Some Things My Dad Taught Me: An Essay Poem by Jim Milks

My father taught me a lot about life. Practical things like how to sharpen a knife and how to hammer a nail. Things of character like how to win and even how to fail. He taught with his words and his deeds with these tools he planted the seeds. Even to this day I often think about all that he had to say. Whether it was about driving or how you behave as a human being there was always a much deeper meaning.

“A Poor Craftsmen blames his tools” The first time I heard this little jewel I had been a little project together that didn’t come out quite the way I had planned. When I started to complain to my dad that I could have done better had I had better tools all he had to say to me was “A poor craftsmen blames his tools”. Not an admonition about tools but to tell me to never accept less then your best. A lesson that applies to so many things in live be it building or taking a test.

I can remember being in a store with my dad and the bag person handing my dad his purchases my dad taking them with a “thank you”. As a young and naïve kid I remember asking dad why he said thank you, after all it was their job to bag the groceries and hand them to us. Dad looked at me with a simple “so, aren’t they people” and with no more explanation I understood what he meant people deserve curtsy.

My dad was from the WWII generation and I think they had a different view of the world. My dad taught my that it is the duty of the strong to protect those that are weaker or unable to protect themselves. He quite school to serve in the war and lived his life protecting those that needed it. But, being strong means you can accept help from others when you need it.

There were a lot of things my dad taught me about life, and how to live it, and how to be a man and a member of society. Something’s he taught me by words and not always directly leaving it up to me to figure out what he meant and what the lesson was. Something’s he taught me by his actions and the man he was no explanation but by example. Some of the lessons he taught me took years to sink in some took hold right away.


© JPM 1/3/09