Rise Above It

Rise Above It Her brother, my father, had passed away several months prior. Though more restrained and kinder, she was strong like my father. I did not realize a day would come that she’d teach me a life lesson. Our cow broke loose and ran onto the lawn of a very hateful man. He spoke bitter words and expressed such vicious emotions. If my aunt had not appeared, I would have been crushed. I could not understand the man's energized anger about the actions of the cow. My aunt explained the essence of some people in terms never to be forgotten. Her Christ like response to his rage enabled me to understand the actions of, what seemed to me, a mad man. Realistically, his rage was not about the cow, but about certain people he hated. Her words are not remembered, but my brain recorded an eternal lesson of life. My brain recorded the following: 1. You cannot control the actions, the anger, and the hatred of people. 2. You must not allow yourself to accuse yourself of being at fault. 3. It does not mean that you are to think that you are better than they. 4. You must not respond or react in kind, or stoop to their level. 5. But because of who you know yourself to be; and because you have been taught a better way, you can indeed rise above them. 06082016 PS Contest, Rise Above It, by Becca Teagan