Excerpts taken from "Just Thoughts of a Plain Country Woman" by Lucile Ellingwood Morrow, published January 1, 1953 in the Collinville News.
"Kathleen,
my small granddaughter, says she gets to "pick the
down eggs"
and we "pick the up eggs."
When she saw I was puzzled by "up and
down eggs" she explained that, since she
could not reach the
high nests, she would gather
the ones in the lower nests while we
did the others.
How wise and
happy she is without realizing it!
How few of us are willing to do the
"down" work willingly? How many are resentful of those who have the "up" nests
as though the higher nests - or eggs - were
any better than those lower down!
And thereby hangs my
New Year's thought.
What
is the only difference between high
and low? Physical stature in
Kathleen's in case; mental and spiritual capacity in all our cases. It
is up to us whether we think high
or low and are willing
to do our part. . . . .
It is hard for us to realize
that we count as
individuals,that there has never been before
in the world's
history a "you" or "me" and
that never again will an exact
"me" or "you" be born.
Each person
is unique. . .
We may not any of us
be "indispensable" but it is harder
to say which little drop of
water added to an already full
bowl would
make it overflow. None is independent of the other and yet
each is necessary to make
up the whole.
It is said that in a
republic, "self-government
has always depended
upon six elements of
personal character. First,
self-reliance; second, personal responsibility; third, thrift; fourth, courage; fifth, individual
initiative; and sixth, and most
important, faith."
These six essentials
of personal character have
produced our great
American country.
Now at the beginning
of the New Year, it is
equally good to renew our character
for the year's end and as the new
year approaches.
First, let us be self
reliant enough to reach up,
to look up, and yet at the same
time feel responsibility for
our own talents, our
own growth at our present level.
Kathleen
is at her level. She
is thrifty, too, holding all the eggs
she gathers securely in both
hands and placing them carefully in
the bucket so as not to break
any. She has the
courage to try, the individual eagerness to
beg to go along and help; and supreme
faith that while she is doing a
perfect job now, some day she will be
a "big gurl" who can reach up into
the very top nests do her part,
and receive even greater responsibility
and reward.
When we have
finished, she insists on helping to carry
the heavy
bucket of eggs to the
house, helping to carry her part of the
load.
Do you? Will you?
