A parent’s responsibility is to make sure that they are imparting good life lessons to their children. One of these lessons is being kind to people and never judging a book by its cover.
And sometimes, these lessons go hand in hand. Unfortunately, this was not the experience of Andy Ross.
Andy works as a construction worker in Vancouver, Washington and was on his way back home from work. On his way home, he stopped at a store and noticed a little girl staring at him.
The former special operations medic, had just left a construction site and thus had a good deal of dirt on his face.
He thought nothing of the little girl’s curiosity. That was until her mom pointed at him and said: “That is why you need to stay in school.”
Needless to say, Andy was stunned at the comment. He was literally witnessing a mom giving her young daughter a lesson in how not to treat others.
Andy explained a bit about himself and how after leaving the armed services he didn’t feel comfortable taking a desk job. Instead, he opted to work outside, which obviously involves getting your hands dirty from time to time. He then left the pair with a resounding statement: “Have a good day and try not to judge people before you know anything about them.” He then wished the mother luck in raising her little girl.
The veteran went home and made a post on Facebook. He revealed that he indeed stay in school too. He wrote, “First, I happen to be a very educated dirty man. I not only have a high school diploma, I also have a college degree and many medical certifications.” Going on to talk about his career as a special operations medic in the army.
And on the bottom of which he wrote down eight lessons he felt everyone should know about.
“Today’s lesson for the day:
1- Don’t judge people at first glance.
2- Do what you love and enjoy and it’s never work.
3- Blue collar jobs are the best jobs. They can pay great and it doesn’t always come with a price tag.
4- Education is important, but college doesn’t guarantee you anything.
5- Experience, hard work, and dedication allow you to be successful in your career path.
6- Don’t be an ahole parent who raises their kids to be an ahole.
7- When attempting to insult someone’s intelligence and education level, don’t allow yourself to be out educated by said dirty man.
8- I need a shower,” he wrote.
Andy made sure to impart this lesson to not just the mother he met, but also people raising children everywhere. And hopefully, this lesson sticks!
Though this didn’t start out as the most heartwarming of stories, it’s great to see that Andy – rather than acting aggressively or resorting to an argument – took a step back, composed himself and handed out a lesson that will hopefully remain long in the memory.