Humble

My nephew,
Landry and I have similar thoughts.
But of different generations, of course.
My great nephew KJ?
Is wise beyond measure.
Connected and not divorced from reality.
And, KJ? He's great at everything he does.
And in that...humble stage. He is soon,
To leave his teenage years. To play football.
And I pray that humility he now has lasts.

My other great nephew, Levi?
Born this past November 2021.
He is teaching himself to walk.
He stands tall to walk then falls.
Then gets up quick again to start over.
We all say Levi is 'something'.
Because there is nothing else to say.

Now...
Between us I suspect,
Will always be different perspectives.
Opinions and days when eyebrows are raised.
Since I was not given,
My honorable military discharge.
I earned every bit of it in 1968.
Not by being humble or feeling appreciative,
For the experience.
I worked hard to earn what I learned.
Nothing did I love,
To discover my close friends...
Were killed in Viet Nam.
Children.
None of us yet in our 20s.
This...
I have already prepared,
To bring up over and over again.

I began writing as a very young boy.
To enjoy it.
And not for fame or glory.
I did not know what that meant.
And when I did begin to realize,
I could get what I had written published?
That took more than 50yrs.
I did not feel humble then and don't do I now.
If I have done what someone else,
Perceives has value?
Is something I don't take for granted.
But neither do I sit to stop,
My creative addicting abilities...
To think what I do to others may have value.
My ego and I seem to only celebrate,
A love I have for cooking.

I admit to being arrogant.
And proud of the me I have become to be.
I know my own history and very well.
Never have I been one seeking approval,
Or acceptance.
That is distant and far from my reality.
So many unhappy,
Are wishing to want love and praise.
Given as if an entitlement owed.
And...
To accept as if earned.

Being humble is as foreign to me,
As to why someone would have a pet.
To train to sit, rollover and bark.
On command to demand,
While attached to a leash.
And that is not my goal in life to reach.

My ancestors must have gone through,
Some understood to understand B.S.
And undeserving at best.
I don't expect my nephews,
To ever comprehend...
How and why I feel the way I do.
As long as the respect is kept to keep,
Coming and going.
To flow between us easily.
Earned!