Speaking Our Minds & The True Gentleman

On a frequent basis, I read poisonous remarks written by some members of the monument industry. They seldom contribute anything useful to the dialogue, and they are quick to attack others in a broken-record fashion similar to a spam attack. These hatemongers seem determined to harm others.

I try my best to be a positive person. As a matter of principle, we should avoid negative persons for they often lie on a bed of inner turmoil consisting of unresolved adolescent anger that has held them back throughout their adult life.

We should speak our minds, but we should do so responsibly, and without intentionally hurting others unless necessity calls for it. As a pledge to Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity during the spring of 1974, I was called upon to memorize and recite "The True Gentleman" verbatim.

I was successful in this endeavor and I received a certificate for my ability to recite "The True Gentleman" in chapter without mistakes. There were no redos and you were only given one opportunity to accomplish the task.

The True Gentleman is the standard to which everyone should seek to strive. When we fall short of that standard, we should try harder, as it is not easy to be the True Gentleman.

Please read the words of "The True Gentleman" slowly and carefully and think about the message the poem expresses. I invite you to make yourself a better person by following its advice. If you follow the instruction of The True Gentleman you will be a better person.

The True Gentleman

"The True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute sense of propriety, and whose self-control is equal to all emergencies; who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of his obscurity, or any man of his inferiority or deformity; who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another; who does not flatter wealth, cringe before power, or boast of his own possessions or achievements; who speaks with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy; whose deed follows his word; who thinks of the rights and feelings of others, rather than his own; and who appears well in any company, a man with whom honor is sacred and virtue safe.

- John Walter Wayland "

Burton Fletcher
www.USAMonuments.com
Burton@USAMonuments.com