Every day I thank my mom for switching my legs when I needed it. I thank my dad for upholding mom and taking away a privilege. I thank them for teaching me to be polite, to say “yes ma’m” and “yes sir.” I thank them for letting me know that I was a child loved but not grown, in a state of learning and earning.

I thank them for letting me know that I was their responsibility and not society’s. I thank them for teaching me to respect not resent authority, for one day I might be in their position. I thank them for requiring something of me, doing my part to make our family succeed.

I thank them for teaching me to be and to look clean and neat, not like a tramp. I thank them for teaching me to assume responsibility as I grew and to earn respect in society, not demand it.

I thank them for being religious, morally clean, respecting each other, offering a strong family setting. I thank them for living within their means, grateful for necessities and not always wanting. I thank them for filling their roles as a good, respectful father and as a loving, dedicated mother.

I thank them for the example they provided and presented it as a way of stability in a society of disarray.

– Robert Foster, Provo