The memory is lodged in my brain’s recesses, as closely as mistletoe clings to mesquite trees. Our parents—neither with educational opportunities beyond high school—provided commonsense counsel for my brother and me.
One admonition on their rigid “you-ought-to-do” ladder has remained on the top step. Their advice was sound then and is so today.
“Don’t be pokin’ fun at anybody,” they warned,…