I Shall Pass This Way But Once

   Back when I was a kid I spent a portion of my youth on my "aunt" and "uncles" farm. I lived with them for a number of years. They weren't my genetically connected relatives, they were my parents best friends.

My Dad died when I was ten years old, and it seemed like a great idea to all involved, that I would be the better for getting out of the city, 'specially seein' that I was a tad wild and runnin' with a group of "unguided - missiles", like myself. Yes, I thought it was a good idea too. I always enjoyed the farm, the aspects of animal husbandry, and nature that were all part of it.
   It was a fairly typical northeastern dairy farm. Fifty-some milkers in a stanchion barn, somewhere close to a hundred head in total, counting all the young stock. I was paid a stipend for my efforts, along with room and board. Within just a couple years I had purchased an aging mare as my own riding horse. It was a great way to grow-up, never-ending work and all.
   My Aunt Margie was a kind and warm hearted country woman. In some ways she was sort of a Dr. Dolittle of an individual. She would coddle and nurse the milkers along through the stepped on teats and various problems that would arise. Marge and her husband Gentry rightly prided themselves on the fact that they NEVER lost any calves! If we got them breathing, and their first meal into them, They ALWAYS thrived! To those of you not familiar with raising animals that is an impressive accomplishment, in those days conventional wisdom was that if the mortality rate was ten percent or less, that was all you could reasonably hope for. They had a zero mortality rate for decades!
  Sometimes on rainy afternoons, and cold winter days, Aunt Margie would crochet or do needlepoint. She made a number of very nice things.
  A couple years ago her daughter was having a garage sale, I brought some folding tables to her to use for her sale. Of course, I had to check out what she was selling. I was going through some pictures and frames she was trying to part with, and I found a framed needlepoint quotation Margie had made.
  I had to have it! I was surprised her daughter was selling it, but we all know how we are all short on room for our "stuff". Of course this heirloom is now mine. It is one of my prized possessions. The quotation is a great one, one that truly speaks to me.
  The quotation is this:
          *I Shall Pass This Way But Once *
          *Therefore Any Good That I Can Do *
          *Or Any Kindness That I Can Show *
          *Let Me Do It Now*
          *For I Shall Not Pass This Way Again*
   This simple thought conveyed by my Aunt Margie's needlepoint is so important to humanity. We all need to think more for and about each other. We humans, and notably we Americans embrace greed and selfishness in a nearly religious manner. This embrace is reaching epidemic proportions in our present culture, pushed upon us relentlessly by our corporate controlled government. It is constantly and brazenly promoted by our corporate media.
  We need a new reality, tens of millions of average Americans continue to support this political agenda As they are squeezed harder by the corporatocracy, they don't realize they are supporting the overt corporate party that is most viscously oppressing them. But these thugs are slick and they constantly appeal to peoples    bigotries, fears, and worries. People seem to miss the fact that these folks are the ones constantly giving away "the store" to the most affluent, through evermore deregulation (decriminalization) and greater control of all that matters.
  In closing, I think Aunt Margie's words bear repeating:
                                I SHALL PASS THIS WAY BUT ONCE
                               THEREFORE ANY GOOD THAT I CAN DO
                               OR KINDNESS THAT I CAN SHOW
                               LET ME DO IT NOW
                               FOR I SHALL NOT PASS THIS WAY AGAIN
  Thank You  Aunt Margie, for SO MUCH !