Easy Lesson that Makes A Big Impact

It's interesting what stands out to us in our childhood. So much happens as we grow up, so many lessons are learned. Some that go in one ear and out the other, but there are some important simple life lessons that really stick with us all our lives. Those lessons that really make the big impact on us for our future selves. Those moments that I am right now with my little ones, somedays feeling as I am treading water, trying to keep afloat, in the trenches with daily life lessons with a six year old, four year old and a six month old. It's not easy, but it's worth it. There are days when it seems like nothing is sinking in, lessons are being repeated over and over, but in those moments I find myself praying that lessons are being planted and the foundation is being set for them as they grow and eventually they will be able to look back with a deeper understanding of what's really important.

One big lesson that has stood out to me from my childhood that I have carried with me into my adulthood I heard from my dad while playing racketball against the old Southside High gym wall. Many of you reading this will remember that wall at the old gym where people would go and hit tennis balls. It had the perfect cement area outside with walls that wrapped around the big wall we would aim at, but it was set up so well that wherever you hit the ball it would come back to you. It was so much more than just a wall, it was a spot that holds so many memories for us as a family. It was a spot where my Dad, Sean, Corey and I would all go play racketball and I would lose every time. Really we would all lose the game because no matter how good we were the wall was always better. The wall was always going to win, but looking back I think we were all the real winners because we learned so much through these fun and simple times together.

Dad always gives us little pieces of advice without shoving lessons at us, but I think this one moment stands out in my childhood that I still hold onto today and will forever keep in my mind. We were playing racketball and he said, "how you treat those that can do nothing for you, shows exactly who you are." I remember him telling me this, but I also remember seeing him live it out. He had a janitor lady at his work place that had some disabilities. She didn't do a great job at keeping the place too clean, but he still had her come to work and gave her a chance. He made a difference in her life by giving her that job where she felt special, she felt like she belonged and she felt like she mattered no matter what she could or couldn't give back. Knowing that she couldn't give much back, he still treated her as an important team member with respect and kindness. The kindness that we put out into the world, some acts may be big and some may be small, reveals our character.

"What you do when no one is looking is who you really are."

Sadly in any career there seems to be a hierarchy, but there are many lessons we can learn by watching those at the top of it that can impact all others around. As a young, female surgical physician assistant I guess I was suppose to be nervous being surrounded by the top of the hospital hierarchy, surgeons, but I wasn't. I think I just blindly went into my career not knowing that there was such a thing and this helped me in multiple ways. I was able to focus on the team effort that it took to take care of any patient. I went into my career knowing from the get go that everyone mattered no matter if they were the one with the scalpel, the one suturing the patient up, the one putting the patient to sleep or the one cleaning up the blood that was left on the ground after the surgery was over. I truly believe that little lesson that my dad planted inside my brain that day while playing racketball, and watching him live it out, helped me go into my career and through my everyday life seeing everyone as an important human being, as equals where we all belong. It is so important to know we are all connected and are all on the same team, same level on the hierarchy ladder, because who we belong to.

"How you make others feel about themselves, says a lot about you."

A great way to introduce this thinking to our children is by a simple act of being kind to the waiter/waitress at a restaurant. Let your children, or just anyone you're with, see your kindness and thankfulness to someone that you do not know. By showing respect and kindness towards a human that is waiting on you and trying their best in the career that they are currently in will speak volumes for you as a human being and will help shape the foundation for your children and others as they watch your actions. I think big lessons can be learned about who someone is by watching how they treat a waiter or waitress. Be observant. Good and bad actions are contagious and we all have a choice for how we reveal our character.

Dad didn't know, at the time, that while we were playing racketball that day he would have such an impact on my future which would eventually have an impact on others. We never know what little lessons we say and live out will take hold, but I pray every day that my children, that your children and all of us will cling to the truth. The truth being that we are all children of God and that should be enough reason for all of us to treat others as they are important and not because what they can do for us in return. We are all sacred because who we belong to.

"Let us not love with words or speech, but with actions and in truth." — 1 John 3:18

Hope you all have a great day.

XX - Ash