When I was growing up I lived in a nice neighborhood in Michigan. There was one day; I bought my older brother an ice cream. I was four years old, the ice cream was cold and delicious, and his ice cream was an unconscionable bargain at one dollar.

It was a good ice cream; that is, it went to my older brother who didn’t have money for the ice cream that he wanted to get.

The ice cream was not large, but neither was it small. It was one of those ordinary ice creams one sees in every corner of the world. The common denominator of its flavor. But on this day it was giant, delicious, and colorful.

And shortly after I gave it to my brother, it was gone as I knew it would be. He had greatly enjoyed it, and I was very happy that I had given it to him.

The entire day, my brother went out of his way to be nice to me, from that day he was always much nicer, because a family member had done one nice thing, he would be nice back for a much longer time than it took to earn a dollar.

And from this experience I learned something about family’s importance; it was a lesson worth many times one dollar.