02/11/2008

President's Message - A Time Tested Guide - The True Gentleman

by Keith Walker, CFSP, OFDA President

A Time Tested Guide - The True Gentleman

Katy and I just returned from OFDA's Annual Educational trip. This year it was held in Barbados. It was an awesome and beautiful place. Scott Gilligan was our presenter and did an outstanding job educating all of us on the latest legal and legislative issues in funeral service. As General Counsel for NFDA as well as OFDA, Scott is completely up to date on both national as well as state issues. We are very fortunate to have him. It was also great to be with some tremendous funeral professionals from all around the state. Please seriously consider joining OFDA on the Educational trip next year. You will not regret it.

When I was attending the University of Toledo, I pledged and was accepted into the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. While becoming a part of this fraternity, we had to memorize a statement. The attributes set forth in this statement exemplify the conduct we as human beings and as funeral directors should strive to attain. I certainly have not lived up to this thus far, but I again pledge to conduct myself in such a manner. The True Gentleman by John Walter Wayland is also printed in a manual used by the U.S. Naval Academy. Reportedly, the statement was composed by Mr. Wayland as his submission to a contest held many years ago by The Baltimore Sun. The contest was for the best definition of a gentleman.

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

If we all used this statement as a guide for our interaction with one another, I do believe the world would be a little better off. If this is the first time you have read this, I hope you enjoyed it. Spring is just around the corner. Enjoy the rest of winter.