Commentary: Mooney's Class
Antelope Valley Press
Edward Mooney, Jr.
May 23, 2005

Title: Iole Mooney’s column

Everyone has a story of a lousy birthday. We get sick, or plans fall through.
My thirty-sixth birthday was definitely, without a doubt, my worst. After
school that day in March of 1992, I received a phone call. My mother died. It
wasn’t unexpected, but the date of her passing was.

Over the last thirteen years, so many of her teachings have come back at strange
times. When I’ve had a major decision to make, or a challenge on how to deal
with a child, there she’s been.

She was an unusual woman, and I can’t tell you how much I still miss her. Her
name was unusual - Iole Rosemary Mooney.

I’ll let her write the rest of this column for me. Here are some thoughtful
tidbits she shared with me over the years - and I think she wanted me to
understand a deeper meaning (am I right, Mom?). I’m still pondering these
things, Mom. I want to share of few her meanderings.

“You can make anything you want to happen, if you believe and work at it
enough.” A person’s will is critical to success in anything one does. You
can’t legislate success; you have to believe in success before you can make it
happen. This follows the idea that “you can lead a horse to water but you
can’t make it drink.”

“If a dog flies, don’t complain because it wasn’t up in the air long enough.”
Sometimes we’re so shortsighted. If we saw a dog fly a foot or two off of the
ground, someone would complain that it wasn’t flying a mile up.

Sometimes we shoot down those dogs by not recognizing what a miracle we are
seeing. There are many examples of a dog flying and someone coming along and
telling the dog it can’t be done - thus the dog falls. Then the critic smiles,
shrugs and says, “See, I told you so”!

“Don’t wish your life away - it will be gone soon enough.” You young people
wish you were older. Did you ever hear the older people wishing they were
younger? Do you get the message behind that expression?

“You can catch more flies with sugar than you can with honey.” Sweet works
better than sour. A person can only handle so much sour in their lives, then
they start pushing it away. If you’re going to ask for something, coat it with
a little sugar and the person you’re asking will find it goes down a little
easier. Don’t be too sweet, though. That makes people sick.

“You can lead your life by following your heart or your mind; either way is
wrong. You have to listen to both, or become a slave to the one you choose to
hear.” If you follow your head only, your life becomes sterile and empty.
You’ll have money, but no love. You’ll have power, but no caring or softness.
If you follow your heart, you’ll be poverty stricken and, eventually, broken
hearted. You’ll find real magic in your life if you can find a balance between
the two.

“Watch out for politicians who will not see the issues of the other side.” Each
side has valid concerns. Like following your heart or your mind, you need both
sides for a stable America. If you listen to the extreme left, you’ll see
paralysis in jobs and the creation of new business. If you listen to the
extreme right, you’ll see a country divided into extreme wealth and extreme
poverty. Find the balance and we’ll have a prosperous country. Turn one way
or the other and we’ll see the end of our society.

“You want me to do things for you; what will you do when I’m not here?”

You’re gone, Mom. We’re in the 21st century now. I guess I have to shift for
myself - as we all have to one day. There is something I just realized, with
the birth of your newest great-grandchild, Benjamin.

You were teaching me not only to think and do for myself, but also to pass this
on to those who come after me. Jenny, Lisa, Sarah, Patrick and Laura - are you
hearing your grandmother’s words?

Someday I, too, will not be here, but that’s another issue I’m struggling with.
That means that’s another column.


Thought for the Week: I think enough was said.

Edward Mooney, Jr., of Palmdale, is a teacher at Quartz Hill High School and the
author of the novels "The Pearls of the Stone Man" and "The Journey of the
Stone Man".