Do you want to get in shape for the New Year? You’ll join millions of Americans who share that popular New Year’s resolution.
But this New Year, I want to return to the past and make sure I am living the life lessons that “shaped me.” I often remember hearing, as a child, “Don’t ever forget where you came from…”
In a long broadcasting career as a television news reporter, news anchor, and now community affairs director at WTHR-TV, I recall mentoring schoolchildren and being surprised by common questions they would ask. “What kind of house do you have? What kind of car do you drive?” “How much money do you make?” In those moments, I would remember where I came from – a poor child, raised by a divorced mother of six children, who lived in a housing project, part of my life, as my Mom sometimes worked two jobs to make ends meet. We helped her clean an office some evenings, and one day, I haphazardly, vacuumed one room.
My mother exclaimed, “If you’re not going to do your best, then don’t do it at all.” Those words live in me, to this day. They shaped me by teaching me to excel, to always do my best, in school, career and in life.
I am thankful for my background because it taught me to work hard in order to get ahead in life. It taught me to be grateful for even the little things. And it taught me that you can be poor, but rich in values.
My mother raised all of her children to have a great and unconditional love for each other. She taught us that we are each unique, but that we are no better than anyone else, grounding us with both confidence and humility. And, we were taught the “Golden Rule,” to treat others the way you want to be treated. Mom also shaped us by raising us in church, with a faith that instilled in us a compassion for others and, in me, a desire to serve.
I didn’t head out into the adult world with dreams of having an expensive home, a fancy car, or lots of money. Those are blessings and there is nothing wrong with working for and earning those things.
However, my dream was to use whatever gifts God had given me, to serve. To realize that dream, I knew I had to get a college education and build a career, so that I could help my Mom, my siblings, my children and my community. My mother and my childhood, in a small, close-knit Ohio town, shaped me. I have lived in several places throughout my broadcasting career, but I carry “home” with me, in my heart. It continues to shape me. I don’t ever want to forget “where I came from.” If I focus on “what shaped me” in the New Year, I should be in good shape in 2014.
Are you living the values that shaped you?
You can email comments to Angela Cain at acain@wthr.com.
