Simpler Times

GETTIN’ RAISED RIGHT

By Charles D. Williams, M.D., FACR, FAAP (“Pedro”) Years ago in Simpler Times saying where you were from also said how you were raised. We were a product of our community. Kinfolk, neighbors, local merchants, the ice man, the doctor, the Sunday School teacher, and the crop duster all pitched in to help ya’ get raised right. During the summers after school had let out and before cotton pickin’ time started, Mama sent Pedro and the kids to vacation Bible School at the Rose of Sharon Baptist Church to get Miss Mashburn to help us see the light so we could stay on the straight and narrow path. Miss Mashburn said, “If you played baseball there was a rule book and if you broke the rules, they’d throw you out of the game. If you don’t play by the rules in football they’d throw a rag down on the ground and you got penalized.” She then said that the good Lord gave us a rule book to lead our lives by and that we needed to be good to our neighbor and don’t take what don’t belong to us. That’s what she said. Miss Mashburn was also the Sunday School teacher who had asked us what was Christ’s first name. Sonny who was seven raised his hand and said, “Andy.” She wanted to know where Sonny got that idea from. He said that it came from the song, “I Come to the Garden Alone” and he started singing, “Andy walks with me, Andy talks with me, Andy tells me that I am His own.” Miss Mashburn said that the song goes, “And He walks with me…” Sonny replied, “That’s what I said, Andy walks with me.” In 1952 Pedro and two other boys went into the 5 and 10 cent store downtown to look around. One of the guys picked up a comb without paying for it and Pedro didn’t know until the local merchant called our parents. I’ll never forget the hurt in Daddy’s eyes. I never want to see that again. The head of the store said something else about hanging around with the wrong crowd and he also said something about birds of a feather flocking together. I didn’t know anything bout birds but I sure figured out that hanging around with the wrong guys could get ya’ in trouble. If I was going to do any more flocking together it was going to be with some different folks. My flocking habits changed after that. One day I believe Pedro was about 16 years old and he decided it was about time to ask Dr. Frank Gay how you get to be a doctor and how you get there from Moultrie. Pedro sat down on the sidewalk outside Dr. Gay’s office which was one block from Main Street and waited. The sun started going down before Dr. Gay appeared at the doorway. Pedro hopped up and quickly asked, “Dr. Gay, how do you get to be a doctor?” He looked Pedro straight in the eyes and said, “You just have to want to bad enough.” He then said if you have strong enough desire, everything else like the hard work and discipline will fall into place. That made sense. He didn’t even make fun of Pedro and at that moment I think he believed him. Pedro thanked him and started walkin’ home thinkin’ and dreamin’. Later when it was time for Pedro to leave Moultrie, Dr. Gay gave some money, some advice, and a handshake, the local merchants presented Pedro with some new store bought clothes and money, and Miss Mashburn said a prayer. These folks, they disciplined you, guided you, patted you on the head and rewarded you. None of us made our accomplishments on our own without the help of good folks and we all have special people in our lives. Pedro can’t help but say thank ya’—to the people of Moultrie. Reprinted with author permission from Simpler Times.

Dr. Williams’ sequel book, More Simpler Times, can be purchased from the Capital Medical Society. All proceeds from the book are donated to the Capital Medical Society Foundation’s We Care Network program. The total sales from his books have raised over $40,000 for the CMS Foundation’s We Care Network.