ALWAYS TO BE KIND It's twenty years since my father passed And I miss him still the same He was never one for putting money back But he left me his good name There were hundreds at his funeral As from near and far they came But few are left who remember him And I think that that's a shame So I'd speak of him to you gathered here If I can only find The proper words to illuminate The image from my mind My father was as true a man As nature has designed The most important thing I learned from him Was always to be kind Be kind to your neighbor Be kind to your kin Be kind to the stranger Who just might need a friend Be kind to God's creatures In the field and in the pen Be kind to the sinner In spite of the sin Whenever we would take a trip Dad like to drive right through the night We'd stop at Howard Johnson's when We needed a quick bite Late one night this man came in He was bedraggled, such a sight And the way he's talking to himself You knew things just weren't right Well others might have turned away Said "Come on kids, it's time to go" But my dad slid in next to him "Let me buy you a cup-a-joe" Then he waited patiently To hear his tale of woe And once that man got started in The words and tears did flow See he he'd just come from an accident He was the first one on the scene Of a school bus that had lost control And plunged down a ravine It only took one grizzly look And he knew it would mean Seeing horror on that rainy night That could ne'er be unseen Still he waited for responders there So he could be their guide Helped carry tiny bodies up And lay them out at the roadside See life sometimes demands of us More than one can abide Now he sat amongst us broken Like some part of him had died My father knew what was needed then Was that common human bond He was determined not to leave his side Till that driver could go on So they talked and listened through the night As the hours rolled toward dawn Let him purge the darkness from his heart Till the worst of it was gone I like to think dad helped the man Helped alleviate his pain I'd like to think he found the words To keep a good man sane I'd like to think he'd brought him back To our living world again When he climbed back in that Peterbilt And drove off through the rain Be kind to your neighbor Be kind to your kin Be kind to that stranger Who just might need a friend Be kind to God's creatures In the field and in the pen Be kind to the sinner In spite of the sin My father knew a guitar man From down home when they were young Their paths still crossed at gatherings Where the good old songs were sung But this guitar man caught his cheating wife And went right for his gun He'd shot that lonely woman dead Before he knew what he had done When dad was going to visit him Out at the Stark County pen I got up on my high horse Said "Why waste your time on him? Don't you know what he has done Is the lowest human sin?" Dad said before he'd done that deed He'd always been his friend Well it took me years to understand What my father did that day So when he got home I spouted off "Well, what did he have to say?" Dad said he knew that he'd done wrong And was well prepared to pay Dad took his hand between his own And they bowed their heads to pray Be kind to your neighbor Be kind to your kin Be kind to the stranger Who just might need a friend Be kind to God's creatures In the field and in the pen Be kind to the sinner In spite of the sin My father was as true a man As nature has designed The greatest thing I learned from him Is always to be kind Neil Devore If you still have a father, get a hold of him today. Tell him Happy Father's Day for me. If you are a father, Happy Father's Day from me.
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