My father was considerably older than my mother. Because of this he had been around several years longer than my mother when I was born. He was wise to the ways of the world and had made a lot of mistakes, but he learned from them. He told me that he had bought enough whiskey to float a battleship, and all it did was keep him broke and the talk of the town.

However, when I was born he swore off it, and I never saw him take a drink in the 40-plus years that I knew him. In my early life he began to preach against it, and as a result, I have never taken a drink of any kind of alcohol in my life.

To be sure, I have done things much worse, but thankfully, I have been spared the pain and heartache that comes to so many people in our nation who live with an alcoholic or who have been impacted in a negative way. I can’t even imagine the pain that comes to so many families who have lost loved ones because of a drunk driver. My father also spent a lot of time telling me what was right and what was wrong. I made a lot of mistakes in my life, especially when I was younger, but I also learned from them.

One of the things I learned, and the reason I want to share this with you, is a principle that simply stated goes, “We can choose our choices but we cannot choose the consequences of our choices.” If you already know this, congratulations. If you don’t, I have a couple of examples that will bring it into clear focus, and like my father, you might be able to teach it to those you love.

My first example can be summed up with these words, “A fool and his money are soon parted,” and this is true. In the southern part of our state we have a new casino that is going big guns and spending lots of money on advertising. To watch their commercials, you would think you had died and gone to heaven to spend time there, and they even tell how many millions of dollars has been paid out to the winners. What they neglect to tell us is how much profit the casino has made in the process.

Many a man and woman has lost their fortune and their future because of gambling debts, some even leading to people taking their own life. It all comes back to the principle I mentioned earlier, “We can choose our choices but we cannot choose the consequences of our choices.” This is kind of like the lottery: we always hear about the winner, but never about the millions of people who bought tickets and didn’t win.

The second example is one I am sure you have heard: “When you play with fire, you are going to get burned.” This simply refers to any activity that is dishonest, unethical or immoral, by those who are in a position of trust. Do you know any big name politicians who have been caught with their hand in the cookie jar or who have been unfaithful to a spouse? When activity of this kind is brought to light and out in the open, there are still enough people who have high morals and good character to condemn this kind of behavior and take action to remove this person from his or her office.

At this point let me say that this is not a subject that is easy to discuss, but it is well worth the effort if what I am saying will help even a few individuals to avoid the heartache and misery that comes to so many people who did not have a father like mine to teach me right from wrong. What I am hoping is for every reader to know and understand the principle: “We can choose our choices but we cannot choose the consequences of our choices.”

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(Editor’s Note: Jim Davidson’s new book, “Your Future Begins Today” is destined to become a New York Times Best Seller. Get your copy at www.jimdavidsonnsc.com. He is giving a good portion of book sales to begin Bookcase Literacy Projects in other communities all across the nation.)