[eweissenbach]

I have learned so many things from so many people I admire that I could spend the rest of the day detailing them all, and would still miss some great ones. The best lessons however are the most timely ones, the ones that make a point at just the right time.

When I was 10 or 11 years old the television was on and President Eisenhower was making a speech. I wasnt't paying any attention to the TV and I commented on something totally unrelated with a statement that "That's stupid, or He's stupid" I don't remember for sure what I said, but my mother overheard me and said to me "Don't ever say something like that, he is your president and you should show proper respect", thinking I was commenting on the President or his speech. Now to put this in context, my mother was a staunch Roosevelt Democrat, and I knew it, so it impressed me that she was defending the honor of a man I knew she seldom agreed with, and would never have voted for. It is a lesson that has stuck with me for more than 50 years, and one I am grateful for, disagreement is fine, but lack of respect is not. I wish our politicians and many of the more rabid members of the public had learned and practiced the message my mother so memorably delivered.