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.