ERVIN: Best advice for my daughter

EDITOR’S NOTE:  Former gubernatorial candidate Tom Ervin of Greenville offered these thoughts in response to a commentary last week by publisher Andy Brack on rules that surround us.

By Tom Ervin, guest columnist  |  Several years ago, my wife and I drove to Athens to the University of Georgia campus to watch my daughter receive her master’s degree in communications. After the graduation ceremony, we enjoyed a leisurely lunch together at a downtown restaurant. Then, my daughter shocked me by asking: “Dad, what’s your best advice for me now?”

Ervin

I was stunned. It’s not often that a parent is thrown a softball question like this one. I had a flashback of all those times my children simply didn’t want to hear my advice. Tennis star Chris Evert once observed: “As I get older, my dad seems to get smarter.”

So my advice to daughter Graham was to always put faith and family first, be kind to everyone you meet, and never give up on your dreams. On the drive back to Greenville, I began to reflect upon the advice I’d offered. I had the feeling that I’d left something important out.

I bought Katie Couric’s book “The Best Advice I Ever Got.” Katie wrote about the need for courage, confidence, hard work, persistence and a passion for excellence.

Then I came across a passage in the New Testament. 2 Peter, 1:5-8 offers sound advice for living a meaningful life.

“Make every effort to add to your faith, goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness, love. If you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. “

I recommended this passage of scripture to my daughter to consider these qualities for a happy and productive life. My daughter reminded me that she didn’t like being “preached to.”

So then I decided to email her the first draft of this article.  She typed a note at the bottom of my email: “Dad, I think you have too many ideas. Stick with three main ideas since this article is supposed to be about the ‘best advice.’ Also, check your Associated Press style book for updated rules on grammar and punctuation.”

Now, that sounds more like my daughter!

Tom Ervin, a former state circuit judge, is a Greenville lawyer and businessman who ran for governor in 2014.