I am proud of my girl, and I am fortunate in that my parents were proud of me.  My father always told me to “work hard and do my best.”  He assured me that if I had done those two things, he and Mama could never be disappointed.  I was not paid for good grades nor for doing chores — lessons for which I am still immensely grateful.  Almost everyone must work in life, in one form or another, and we are not always compensated for everything we do.  I attended a financial meeting recently where one of the speakers expressed they felt their key to success was in having “a servant’s heart.”  I immediately recognized that as a reference to Holy Scripture; (the Bible.)  My father, who grew up very poor, never once said it was wrong to make money; rather he taught me it was wrong to profit off the backs of others.  Knowing my father did not have the benefit of “white privilege” or generational wealth as a half-Choctaw, I caught on very early as to exactly what all that meant.  I was reared never to envy, but always to aspire — through hard work, discipline, determination, and intellect.  We all view the world and our own life’s experiences through different lenses, and we all have a different point of view.  One of the great lessons my father taught me was to try to see things through another’s eyes and to always treat others the way I would want to be treated.  The 19th-century American poet, preacher, and suffragist Mary T. Lathrap is credited with having coined the phrase “Walk a mile in his moccasins” in a poem she wrote entitled “Judge Softly.”  In it she challenges the reader to see things from the other’s perspective.  How do we judge others?  Subconsciously or no, I submit we judge them by their teeth, their clothes, their accents, their careers, and where they live.  HOW I admire my father for always rising above it all.  He treated everyone the same — from prestigious “big shots” to the homeless.  It feels as if everyone is so quick to form their own opinion weighted in cement without having any firsthand knowledge or backstory about the person or subject in question.  As I write, there is a lovely young man in my house who has a heavy Spanish accent.  He is here upgrading our cable TV equipment.  In his native Venezuela he was a lawyer.  He is worried about the Bar exam here only because he is nervous about his English which, for the record, is excellent.  He thanked me for taking an interest but I told him I was so thankful to him for sharing his life and his experience, which he certainly did not have to do.  (Confession:  I am a journalist so I tend to naturally (and genuinely) ask a lot of questions.)  My husband actually cares about others and has always been quick to ask someone where they were born as well as their religion, heritage, and culture; free of judgement, but rather from a sincere desire to learn.  Much like my father, he takes an earnest interest in whomever he is speaking to … from a wealthy CEO to the kid who took our tickets at the movies.  Recently our little girl wrote a story in school from a book entitled, “Island of the Blue Dolphins,” which is based upon the true story of a twelve-year-old Native American girl named Karana.  She gets stranded alone for eighteen years on an island off the California coast during the 19th century.  During her time there she befriended a wolf whom she named Rontu.  The writer in me is beyond proud my child got a perfect score for her work.  Moreover, she chose to write her paper from the perspective of the wolf:  to be able to see through the eyes of another — particularly an animal — is an especially beautiful thing to me.  If only we all took the time to try and see things from another’s point of view.