As Tough As The World Is

Transcript

A man named Sue by Johnny Cash. The story of the song is this man grows up with this feminine name, a girly name, something worthy of derision. A lot of people pick on him and bully him and accuse him of being not very manly or whatever it is and as a result he has to become himself.

When he finally meets his father he says the world is tough, that’s why I gave you that name because I figure that’s how you will become tougher.

So you have to fight back.

I noticed that people do this thing sometimes. My friend had a role in raising his girlfriends daughter. At one point he told me he was gonna start giving her some pocket money and at some point start introducing taxes just to teach her how cruel the government can be.

I think someone will learn something from the world from that but what it really makes me think is the world is tough.

Or it can be from a certain perspective but I don’t think that justifies being tougher on other people. Some people use this argument to justify physical violence towards children. They call it spanking, beating, whatever you call it.

It can be rough! It is tough for a child to receive that sort of thing, a kind of bullying like an imbalance of power. I am big, you are small, that’s the message it sends.

What I think, you don’t have to agree with me, as tough as the world is and it might be and it’s gonna get, I think the tougher it is the more that justifies kindness. The more it justifies setting an example for little ones or those around us to show how nice the world can be,

Whats a way we can show kindness today? Show something special! Show that perhaps the world is lighter than those around us have noticed.

Thank you for being kind and thank you for taking care of those around you when you have the opportunity and perhaps even seeking out those opportunities.

If you do that, I congratulate you. Have a wonderful day, Adios!