The seed of value

The seed of Value

One day I asked my mom and dad where I got my name. They explained that my name came from a great-great-grandfather who came to the US from Europe and settled in our state and worked very hard. Before he died, he built a large timber company to help other people build homes and have a job if they wanted a job, something he never had as a young man growing up in the country he came from.

Mon and Dad went on to explain that their great-great-great-grandfather had a lot of rules to live by but the one rule he said was the most important in life was to look after the name given to you at birth. He explained that your name is the one thing you will have all your life. Money, people, and things will come and go throughout your life. He explained to all his children over and over to plant the seed for personal growth was to put a value on your name and be aware of that value all your life. He said over and over to all of us that if you do not value your name why would anyone else.

There was a couple of time when mom and dad went out for the evening, we would have a babysitter look after us. Sometimes we would hear them talking on the phone to one of their friends about what a pleasure it was to babysit us. They would say they did not have to be chased around the house to do the things our mother told the sitter we had to do. She would tell her friends she did not have to continually worry or watch us, so we did not get into trouble.

I started thinking back about my family and outside of a few petty things my family’s name has always been respected and spoken well of. Many of my friends have told me they wished they could be in our family because many people respect and trust our family and their parents never have to ask or worry about us when we are there.

Another seed planted was that you do not have to do crazy or stupid things just to fit in with a crowd. That we think about the consequences of things we are thinking or being asked to do before we do them. While still in High School several of our school friends wanted to hang out with me and my brothers and sisters because they know we would not do things that will get us into trouble and yet we still had fun. We did not understand at the time, but we were setting positive examples about how to act and behave.  

As I started to get a little older and started looking for summer work it surprised me that when I asked for a job many times during summer break when I ask a local business for a job that most of the time when they ask my name and I tell them they don’t ask any questions except when can you start work. I ask them if they want to know more about me and most of the time they say no, we know of your family and that’s good enough.

The older we got the more me and my brothers and sisters started to understand what the value of maintaining the value of your name really meant.  

It’s not the name you are given but how you treat that name that shows the kind of person you are. In collage one day during class on human behavior I brought up my teaching from my family about maintaining the value of your name and I was questioned by some class members to give an example. I had never been asked that before, so I had to really think on my feet to respond.

I asked them to think about the names of two people whose names they know but have never met but have formed an opinion about them from the rumors and accusations about them.

I asked them to think about these two people one was named Albert Einstein and the other Albert Capone. They both have the same first names and different last names. You do not know either one of them only by repetition and history. When you hear the name Einstein you think of an educated man and inventor, but do not know of any bad things about him and if you had a choice most would like to meet him. Now you hear the name Al Capone you also do not know him but do know from his repetition and history you know him to be a criminal.

They both were given their names at birth by their parents, Albert Einstein went on to become a famous inventor and had a history of being a person who respected others, and everyone that knew him valued his name. Then you take Albert Capone and you also do not know him, but you know by his repetition that the only way he got respect was to kill or intimidate people. His name only has value because if you did not give him respect you could be killed.

One valued his name and got value by learning and giving respect to live within the community and was respected, the other. The other gave no respect to the community and lived outside of it.

The seed of valuing your name was planted by one of the parents and not the other. If more parents planted the seed of self-worth and if the value of one’s name became a focus in our young people today, I believe there would be much less violence in out young people today. With less violence, our world would be a so much better place to live and with parents continuing to plant the seed of value in your name consequently in yourself we could live in a world with love and respect.