My Mama Said, "Wait, my child...wait!"

My grandmother was fond of telling my mother this little tale:

Once upon a time, there was a mama pig who gave birth to many piglets. She loved them, fed them, cared for them and nurtured them. One day, the most curious of the piglets asked the mama, "Why is your snout so big?" The sow smiled and answered, "Wait, my child...wait!"

The point being, I suppose, that we all turn into our mothers (a presupposition of which I am not entirely convinced). But I do chuckle at the story from time to time when I look at my son and see a version of my own face staring back at me. Anyone who has remarked to his father, "Sorry, eh, boy - but he's all his mother!" will report that I grin with satisfaction. He looks just like I did when I was his age and I have the baby pictures to prove it. I see myself in my son in other ways too: in his impatience, his pluck, his determination. And I see his father: his build, his even temperament, his sweet nature.

And it strikes me that if we see ourselves in him, he will also see himself in us. And that raises the bar. We have to be better. Better parents, better spouses, better neighbours, better friends, better citizens, better people - if we want to raise a man that can do something better for our world.