When I was a child, I remember my mom telling me, "Don't touch the red glowing area on top of the stove." I asked "Why?" She answered, "Because I said so."

But her answer didn't satisfy my curiosity. Why couldn't I touch the top of the stove? I had to know why. So, one day I touched the glowing red top of the stove. Ouch! That hurt! I experienced why.

When I was about six years old, my parents bought me a fishing pole and reel and took me fishing in the pond about two hundred feet behind our home. I loved fishing!

The next day I asked my mother if I could go fishing. She said, "No! Don't ever go to the pond alone. There must be an adult with you whenever you go to the pond. I asked why? Mom responded, you might slip and fall into the water and drown without an adult being with you. Do you understand? I told her I took swimming lessons, and I know how to swim to safety. Why can't I go fishing?" She quickly answered, "Because I said so."

I heard, "Because I said so" so many times that I thought it was part of the answer to all my questions.

A few days later, my mother went shopping and left my older sister to look after me. That afternoon, when I awoke from my nap, I thought, "I want to go fishing." So, I began to reason in my mind, my mother knew how much I enjoyed fishing. After all it was right behind my house and what harm could come to me fishing? I convinced myself that no harm would come to me, and my mom wouldn't mind too much if I went fishing.

So that afternoon I chose to disobey my mother's instructions. I snuck out the back door so my older sister wouldn't see me. I got my fishing pole off the back porch and went down to the pond behind our home.

There was a wooden wharf about 8 feet square floating out about ten feet off shore. It was anchored so it couldn't float away. The only way to get out onto the wharf was to walk on a thick wooden plank about fourteen feet long, two inches thick, and a foot wide. As I walked on the plank, it slowly bounced up and down with each of my steps until I made it to the wharf.

The water was about ten feet deep where the wharf was. As I stepped closer to the edge of the wharf to put my hook in the water, suddenly my feet slipped, and I immediately landed in the deep water and went under. When I came up to the surface, I was close to the wooden wharf. I tried to reach the top of the wharf, but my arm was too short to reach it.

I sank down under the water again, taking water into my mouth instead of air. I splashed around making my way back to the surface and I reached with all my strength to reach the wharf. But my fingers and arm were too short, so I began to sink down under the water. The last thing I remember seeing, was my fingers stretching to reach the slippery wooden dock. I missed my mark, I couldn't save myself. With my eyes still opened, I began to sink down underwater, with my arms reaching upwards.

The next thing I remember is opening my eyes in the hospital and feeling my mother's arms tight round my neck holding me close to her cheek. Her warm tears were running the side of my face, as she pressed her face to mine. I could hear her whispering saying, "Thank-you God for saving my son's life. My mind flashed back to her instructions: "Never go fishing without an adult, because if you do, you might die."

Right then, I learned why it was important to obey my parents. I understood that if I disobeyed them, I could suffer consequences, including death.

Knowing why is a great motivating force and not knowing why is a disheartening factor that may cause us sickness, injury, or death.

Author, Danny Clifford