Dear Santa - Week 2: A Promise Is A Promise

Dear Santa,

Hi, it's me again. I have another request. It came to me after I read what I asked for last week, that everyone should start listening to each other again. It occurred to me that another reason why people don't listen to each other is because we don't believe in each other any more. We're tired of broken promises and empty gestures. So I'd appreciate it if you could put a little integrity into everyone's stockings this year.

My dad wasn't a very educated man. He had to quit school in the 6th grade, along with his older brothers, to go to work to help support the family after his father died in a work related accident. This was years before Workers Compensation, Social Security and Child Labor Laws. Even though he never got the chance to go back to school, he never stopped reading and keeping up with his math, and eventually he owned his own gas station and auto repair shop. That shop took care of my mom, me and my sisters for over 40 years until he retired. The fact that he was not "book smart" did not mean that he was not a wise man. Although he was a quiet man, every once in a while he would come out with a pearl or two of wisdom. One had to do with how a "lady" behaves when she goes out partying with her friends (a subject for another blog, I'm sure), and the other one was about keeping your word. He said that if you give your word, you keep it no matter what. It doesn't matter if, after you promised something, you regret having said it. You keep your word anyway. He said that people who keep their word are always remembered kindly and with respect.

I looked up the word "integrity" and it said: The quality of being honest and having strong principles; moral uprightness; the state of being whole and undivided. I really like that last part: "The state of being whole and undivided."  When we do not keep our word, when we make empty promises, we not only hurt the one we gave our word to. We also hurt ourselves. We shatter our self-worth. We are no longer whole. I think that is what's hurting so many people these days, the feeling that they are not whole.

Since the day my father said those words to me, I have tried my very best to always keep my word. It has become a point of honor with me. I may not go down in history as the most famous writer in the world, or the richest, or the most beautiful, but I know that people will be able to say of me: "She always kept her word." My integrity is intact and undivided. That's a pretty nice way to be remembered.

So if you could just pass out a little integrity this year, that would be great. Then, when people finally start listening to one another, they can be sure that what they hear from each other is the truth. Maybe we can start to believe in each other again. Wouldn't that be an awesome Christmas?

And so it is.

Thank  you,
Sincerely,
Barb aka Flower Bear