By Cheryl Smith
Looking back, I now realize how many rituals our family had and how we were expected to conduct ourselves during each one.
We didn’t get to question nor dissent.
Parents were there to guide and direct because they knew better. They had been there and done almost everything and we children needed to let experience speak!
I know it’s a new day and I am adapting to a different way of living but I must caution folks younger than I am: There are some things I feel “entitled” to because I had to give it, and you are not going to rob me; namely respect!
For example, as a child, growing up the pieces of the chicken relegated to the children in my house, were everything but the breasts, followed closely by the wings. I waited in anticipation for the day when I would get to choose; when I would earn,
that forbidden piece of chicken.
Then there was that Saturday dose of castor oil. My mother felt we needed to be “cleaned out” so we could start the new week off on the right foot. So cleaning out was what happened and today when I compare what we ate then with what folks are eating today; a lot of cleaning out needs to be happening!
I encountered the long list where every entry began with: “Wait until you are an adult or 18!”
Children like to do what they see adults doing, including: drinking alcohol, staying out all night, smoking, wearing certain clothes, not having to tell where you are going and voting!
Which brings me to my truth.
The list should have included, being responsible, paying bills, following the house rules of the people who pay the bills, being respectful no matter how you are being treated, dressing appropriately, and again, voting (can’t stress it enough).
There are things you have a right to do and other things are your right because of what others have done. Then too, you can abdicate your rights by not voting!
For the record, my grown self is a pescatarian.
Will I take castor oil today? If healthy eating and drinking plenty of water don’t get it, maybe a colonic will. It will have to, because I have earned the right to say “NO” to castor oil.
Do I respect my elders, regardless of how they act? Yep!
And just like I saw adults doing, I will go to the polls and vote!
