Do Unto Others

One important thing our mama taught us was to say we were sorry. I can remember saying, “But Mama, I was right. They were wrong. I shouldn’t have to apologize.”

But she’d say, “Yes you have to. Even if you were right, you should tell them you are sorry that you had a fuss. Or you are sorry that you got angry. Or you are sorry you said those words.”

She had a whole repertoire of famous sayings for each situation, one of which was “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”

^“And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise..” Luke 6:31 NKJV.

Oh, yes, we had to live by that one. I can just hear her saying, “Do you want Frances and Velta to act that way to you? No? Then don’t act that way to them.”

We had to share and share alike. If we were drinking a bottle of pop when company came, we either had to share it or put it away. We didn’t drink pop or eat candy in front of anyone without offering to share with them.
When Velta the next door neighbor girl came over, if we were drinking pop, we had to share. She lived with her grandmother who didn’t buy pop, so she only got pop when she came to our house. I remember many times Velta taking a drink of my pop out of the bottle I sat on the edge of the piano while I played music.

If company came, such as the family which eventually had 7 boys, we either let them play with our toys and risk breaking them, or run and hide them before they came in the house. It wasn’t their fault, they were rough little boys, and we couldn’t refuse to let them play with our toys.

Everyone loved our mother and loved to come visit at our home. She was often known by little kids as Mama Hightower. She was very loving but she also taught us to live the way God and she wanted us to live.

Now I’m glad that Mama and God never let me get away with anything