I grew up in a military family. My dad was enlisted when he first started his career and then he became an officer. I remember him going to Officers Training School but honestly I did not know what that meant. My parents didn't make it a big deal to us. Maybe my older sisters knew the significance of it, but I never did.

Because we moved around so much, I have only one friend that I am still in contact with from my childhood days. A couple of years ago, after we were grown and married, we were talking and she said something about the social divide between officers and enlisted men and their families. She told me she could always tell who were the officers wives when they went to the store on base. After asking some questions she let me know that her parents were always nervous about her coming to my house because my dad was an officer and her dad was enlisted. This was the first time I had ever heard that there was this social divide, and honestly this was the first time that I knew her dad was enlisted.

My parents just had taught us to be kind to everyone. They never really did teach us about status or social class. I had learned about the cast system in school but I never could get my mind around the fact that people didn't interact between different social classes. Maybe I grew up naive, but I never did believe someone was better than me because of what they had or who they were, and I never thought someone was worse than me because of a different lifestyle than I was used to.

It is a lesson that I hope to pass on to my children. I hope that they can respect everyone as a creature of God. Since He is not a respecter of persons, I know that we shouldn't be either. And I also hope that they know that there will always be someone who has more than them, and someone who has less than them. It is great to work hard to achieve goals and dreams but if you do it at the expense of another or you should never look down on another for having different goals and values than you are pressing for.

For my parents instilling this in me, I am so thankful. What a blessing to have that lesson taught to me so thoroughly.