PRIMING THE PUMP

                                                

When I was a youngster, we had a pump in the park where you could get water for the animals or a cool drink for yourself, after an afternoon of playing baseball. The pump was old and it leaked a little air so to get it started you had to pour some water down the well pipe to prime the pump. The water for priming was in an old rusty coffee can that had been filled by the last person who used the pump.  Once primed, you could pump water as long as your arms held out. Then when you were done you filled the coffee can, and left it there, with water for the next person. The can was always there and always full. It was strangers helping strangers. Someone befriended you, thought of you and you in turn wanted to repay the kindness.

I want all of us to take look around us at the youngest family member we have, be it a niece or nephew, brother or sister, son or daughter or my youngest granddaughter who is eight. These youngsters are our hope for the future and we need to do everything we can to help them get educated and become the leaders of tomorrow. We also need to do everything in our power to safe guard the world they have to live in. We need to leave them some water to prime the pump so they can keep going. We live in an increasingly greedy world, where sharing and caring, often takes a back seat to money and power.

I often look at the youngest generation and think—what kind of a world have we left you? Has our overwhelming greed for self-satisfaction left you an empty can? Our air and waters become more polluted every day. Our code of ethics that used to include good morals and a sense of decency has been watered down. Yes, we do reap what we sow but the sad part of it is, the next generation reaps what we sow also. A few weeks back the Pope came to our country and his message to all of us was, “start caring about each other.” Even if you’re not Catholic or even a Christian, how can you argue with that kind of logic? I’m not an Ellen DeGeneres fan but I watch the news and so often I catch the last five minutes of her show. The last thing she says everyday is “Be kind to each other.” We shouldn’t have to be reminded to do that. It should be second nature.

We look to our government so much to fix things for us and make us all get along. It’s almost like we always need direction from a higher power to do what is right. Or we need a law that makes us do it. What does that say about us? Even as a young boy scout we used to repeat an oath to the scout law. “To help other people at all times. To keep ourselves physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.” You can bake a cake and leave out an essential ingredient and to all outward appearances it’s still a cake. But the truth will come out when you share it. That’s the way life is too. If you practice what you preach and you preach love and caring then you have all of the ingredients to be authentic.

None of us will be here forever. Lets keep the can full for the next person.