Today’s Table Talk is by our friend Kathleen Fischer who shares a wonderful post from her blog. I saw this on Monday and asked if I could repost and direct people to her site. So, here’s a small excerpt. Be sure to click on “Read More” to see the rest. It’s worth it.
Thanks Kathleen… and thanks for walking the road with me.
-Kay
My brother raised his sons in Spur, Texas, population 1,088 and dropping. One day he and I were discussing the problems faced by families in my area (a large city). He listened and thought a minute, then said, “Sister, the problem with y’all is you don’t have enough doors.”
“Enough doors? What do you mean,” I asked.
“Well,” he began, “all the kids in your area think there’s only one door for them to enter, only one path to follow. And that regardless what they do or what they want, they’ll have to go through that door, the one that leads to college, professional work, a nice home, kids, a couple of cars. You know. . .
When I was raising my guys, I told’m, ‘Look guys. There are three doors. (he gestured like Vanna White) Door number one is: you don’t work hard in school; you get drunk most nights of the week; you get your girl friend pregnant in 10th or 11th grade. No problem. Just drop out of school and go to work shoveling manure at the feed lot for the rest of your life.
You don’t like that? Okay, door number two: you do a little work at school; only get drunk on weekends; finish high school, maybe even a year or so of college before you get your girl friend pregnant and drop out of college. But that’s okay because you can go home and run the ranch. You’ll learn along the way the rest of what you need to know.
If you don’t like either of those, there’s door number three: in this case, you work hard in high school. And you don’t get drunk or get your girl friend pregnant. You study for SATs and try to make the most of opportunities which come your way. You not only go to college, you finish. And then, my boys, you get to choose what you want to do, where you want to go, what life you’ll make for yourself. A man can earn a living any of those ways, have a wife, raise a family, get along in the world. The question is, what is it you want to create for yourselves.’
(to read the rest, click here: THREE DOORS?)