I can't hear what you are saying over the sound of what you are doing!!

In a world where we can post our opinions and ideas instantly for all to see, it feels like we have forgotten the old adage, "actions speak louder than words." My dad liked that saying. He would have turned 92 last Thursday, March 4th. We lost him 14 years ago in April. We miss him dearly.

He was brought up the son of Italian immigrants in NYC. He enlisted in the USAF and served in the Korean War. He came back and joined the NYPD where he served for 26 years. After a couple years of retirement he became Chief Deputy Sheriff of Pike County in northeast Pennsylvania. He wasn't a saint, nor was he perfect. But he was one heck of a man. As I look back over his life, I'm reminded of the things he taught me. Although I don't remember him lecturing very often, I remember vividly watching how he lived.

• I learned how to love my wife for better or worse by watching him care for, nurse, and love my mother through her long battle with cancer, when I was a kid.
• I learned how to go the extra mile for my family by watching him care for, live with, and love his mom, dad and aunt who lived with us for most of my childhood.
• I learned how to be faithful and diligent at work watching him burn the candle at both ends to provide for us all, no matter what it took.
• I learned how to love my sons by watching him work his tail off bringing his 4 sons up EVEN while caring for my dying mother and aging grandparents. I remember him sitting on hard gym bleachers for weekends on end reading a book and watching me at wrestling tournaments. From the time I was young through college!
• I learned how to love my community and country by watching his example of service and by the pride that exuded from him over my three brothers and their military service.
• I learned how to be a grandpa (maybe someday) by watching him loving my sons. The last time he was with my sons in Pittsburgh before his death, he lined the 4 of them up and with a big smile as he went down the line, grabbed each of them by the face and said, "I love you. I'm proud of you. Listen to your parents or I'll kick you in the a$$."

The list goes on. As I said, he was a man of few words who didn't pontificate much. But I learned a lot from watching

In a world with many words, where talk has become extremely cheap, how are you living ? Whether it's the workplace, home, school or neighborhood, people are watching. What are they learning from watching you?