Lleweyn Swint was a true "Jekyll & Hyde" person. I have been told that he would give the shirt off his back to help someone in need before he drank the elixir that would forever change him. He was also a Chemist of sorts, a type of Scientist, whose lab was not in some back room but out in the woods, what most people call a still.
You see Lleweyn's expertise was in making moonshine. Although he may have been good at it, what gave others pleasure, proved to be the elixir that would turn him into "Mr. Hyde". He became a very violent abusive alcoholic. This was the legacy of my grandfather, the father of my Dad.
My Dad left this lifestyle and married at age 20 and at the age of 21 on Father's Day 1957 - became a father himself. He came into the roles of both marriage and parenthood, with very little if any positive role models. The Pastor of the church that married my parents would run the whole family off from the congregation because the Pastor did not think that my Dad was good enough and that anything coming from that marriage would not be fit for God to use. (Papa, my Mom's dad saw my Dad differently because he himself grew up in an abusive home, but that is another story).
There is a Bible verse that talks about the consequences of a man's wrong doing would be handed down for 4 or 5 generations. I understand that very well, but I do not see that as a negative. I see it as a positive. For you see, my Dad made a decision back when I was born, that he would be a different father to me and my siblings than his father was to him, and to me that makes him a hero.
Don't get me wrong my Dad made a lot of wrong decisions and actions towards me, but that never changed the way that I respected and looked up to him because of what he tried to do. That love and respect that I had for him has made it possible for me to forgive him of those shortcomings. It would also help me during some tough times in my life when I encountered some Seminary graduates that used their "counseling techniques" to find and exploit people in order to build up their following and ministry.
While these Seminary graduates exploited my family & turned them against me, they uncovered the strained relationship that I had with my father. They tried those same techniques with me, but I would not share with them anything that they could use against anyone else. They could not turn me against me Dad, because of the respect that I had for my Dad trying to be different from his father. They could not undo the forgiveness that I had already given him.
You see, my grandfather had a terrible relationship with my Dad, but my dad took steps to have a better relationship with me, and even though I have made many mistakes myself with the upbringing of my kids, my relationship with them while they were growing up was better than the one that I had with my dad. And it doesn't stop there, for I see in my oldest son that he has taken another step in the right direction with his child, and that has been a cause for happiness within my heart. All of these right steps are the result of my dad making first step toward change back over 56 years ago.
