
I do not know how many times I heard this in my life. Accountability for our decisions was key. I heard it from my mother, I heard it from my grandmothers and I heard it from every woman who had a hand in raising me. I am not sure it is good advice in retrospect. I know the echo of those words kept me for asking for help when I needed it the most.
This line popped up in my NaNoWriMo novel last night. It was during an interaction between mother and daughter. My mother’s birthday is coming up so maybe her words were echoed from her to me and onto the page.
I am sure she heard these words throughout her life, too. Funny thing, though. Most of the time when we give advice like that, we don’t mean it. We may not agree with the decisions our children make, but we generally show up for them when needed.
This reminds me of more sage advice I received throughout my life:
Be careful what you ask for; You just might get it.
We ought to offer better advice for future generations, don’t you think?
What advice do you think will echo in the ears of your children or grandchildren?
Definite food for thought.
1LinerWednesday is brought to us every Wednesday by Linda Hill. Check out her blog for the rules and be sure to read the comments for all the other contributions.