“A good example has twice the value of good advice.” — Albert Schweitzer

How true, today, months after I was a tourist in Poland, there remains in my brain an image I saw. A young man (around age 18 to 22) stopped across the street from a church and blessed himself. He had no embarrassment or thought of who was watching him. That vision is still with me. He will never know how much that vision stayed with me.

We must show the world around us what is important to us. Sometimes, our children have the ability to ignore what we say, but what we do is like a TV show, it stays with them.

When my grandson watched me put a dollar in a beggar’s hat, he said to me “my mother says he will probably buy drugs with it.” I said maybe, but maybe I just bought him a hamburger. He nodded and I knew he got the message.

It is a very cold day today, and I am dressed warmly. I am in a house; the furnace is running and I have a cup of hot tea in my hand. Some people do not, so I know I am blessed. I can only worry about my conscience.

When I hear hate for immigrants and those who look different, or talk different or believe different, I wonder what the conscience is doing. Maybe taking a nap. Maybe the need to see a young man praising God.

I think we may arrive at the pearly gates, only to find a sign saying, “out to lunch.” So listen to this old lady — show your love for our world and all that’s beautiful in it. Think of the young man not afraid to show his love of God. I will sleep better tonight knowing he is in the world.