THE WISDOM OF GONKY

THE WISDOM OF GONKYFar and away, the most significant influence in my life was my grandfather, "Gonky". We called him Gonky, because my oldest sister, as a toddler honked his bulbouse nose, and declared, happily "Gonky! Gonky!!!” and it stuck. Whenever you needed a dose of straight-from-the-gut wisdom, Gonky was your go-to guy. I could talk to him for hours on end. I still talk to him today. Some of the wisdom he gave to me are as follows:1) Whatever you do, don’t blow it.2) NEVER NEVER give up on your spiritual faith.3) Concentrate first on the things that need doing first, the rest will follow in due time.4) Always be polite to the ladies, especially your grandmother.5) Never give up on yourself or your inner strength.6) Take the time to be as generous to others if you can.7) NEVER be ungrateful. Ingratitude is a disgrace to your dignity.8) If someone offends you in some way forgive them.9) Get as much education as you can and USE IT to help others.10) Be thankful for what you have, don’t worry about what you don’t have.These are just some of the rules of wisdom I was fortunate to get from him. They stuck. bThere are others. I haven’t always met these 100%. Lord knows I blew item #1 a number of times! Ha! A lot of the rest, I have internalized. Woke up thinking about them today. Forgive me if I don’t allways measure up. I mean always to do better. Blessings and peace to all.Wally