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matters is what I do when I get in that voting booth."
• This attitude of his, since Father's Day is coming up, was something that made a deep impression upon me. Following his counsel has kept me out of quite a few battles throughout the years, especially when I got married.
• I can never remember my father arguing with my mother. Now, my mother argued with my father, but he never reciprocated. "If you want a happy home," he once advised, "make sure everybody in the home was happy particularly the one you married."
• That has helped me through many sticky situations for which I am eternally grateful.
• Another bit of advice he gave me was simply that you do not have to fight every battle. "Only fight those battles," he said with a sly smirk on his face, "that you know you can win."
• I mentioned that he was rather reserved in his speaking, but there was one area where he was profusely proactive. That was in the area of discipline, especially directed toward me.
• My father was not much different from any of the father's during that time and they all believed in the biblical admonition, "Spare the rod and spoil the child." These fathers were united in making sure none of their children would be spoiled.
• One rule we had in the house that I did not fully agree with was, if you got a spanking in school (and in those days we got spankings in school) you got a spanking at home. Talk about double dipping!
• The assumption was that the teacher was right and that the one receiving the spanking was wrong. Back then, 99.9% of the time that was true. The spanker was in charge, the spankee took it like a man and you know where.
• I spent 12 years in the public education system and during that time, my teacher was never wrong. I will not divulge how many times I was wrong, that is between me and the area I sit on.
• I clearly remember that my teachers back then had what was called "the Hickory stick." And boy did those teachers know how to use that Hickory stick and where it would do the most good.
• My father did not have a Hickory stick as such. Hanging on the wall in the kitchen was an old wooden paddle engraved with, "I need thee every hour." I am surprised that that one wooden paddle lasted during my entire childhood.
• I made one mistake during those childhood days. I was going through a period where the paddle and my bottom were close friends. I was getting a little weary of such friendship and decided I would do something about it.

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