Living the Integrity We Teach

Time—is so short—so swift! Loved ones—children—are so soon grown up—so soon gone. And soon gone also are our best earliest opportunities to teach them. As Jean Ingelow poignantly reflected:

“To bear, to nurse, to rear,

To watch and then to lose,

To see my bright ones disappear

Drawn up like morning dews.”

Early, and always, we have an obligation to make our influence felt for good by those we

love and live with. Parents may become a little careless in actions and in utterance, and assume that their children won’t be adversely affected. But this we cannot count on. We must teach and live the fundamentals of life. We must live the integrity we teach, for children learn, not only from what we say, but also from what they see and feel from us. “It is

in youth,” said Benjamin Franklin, “that we plant our chief habits and prejudices…in youth the private and public character is determined…”—in youth, and in the home. What agency or institution would be qualified to supersede home? Where else is example so close, so constant? Who will they follow if parents set an uncertain example. “In general,” said Samuel Johnson, “those parents have the most reverence who deserve it.” “Conviction is worthless,” said Emerson, “unless it is converted into conduct.” Among the most important privileges of parents is the making of a happy home, a place of understanding, of love and loyalty, not marred by quarreling and contention, a place that children will remember with warm and wonderful memories. “Don’t wait too long before taking your children into your confidence,” said Roger W. Babson. “Don’t figure that …there will be time enough … This very night…open to them your heart… Our families do not want us to leave with a bigger business. They want more of us…We have only a few years here at most. Let us use them sensibly…no other person in the hole wide world can take our place in the …home.” Home is, can be—should be—the nearest thing we have to heaven on earth. “There is beauty all around when there’s love at home.”