None are perfect but offered me powerful knowledge: 8 resources that have helped I don’t know if they’ll be of any value to you, but here are a few of the resources and thoughts that have resonated with me over the past several years. Can you be a great husband, father, son, friend, and business owner all at the same time? Or do the qualities and character that make you good at some of these roles, make you bad at others? It is an amazing quest! I’m fascinated with the study of psychology, philosophy, leadership, authenticity, and happiness. The more I learn the more questions I have. Ha Ha!Īs you might imagine, I’ve been trying to figure out the answers to those questions ever since. All seemed to be pretty simple questions that I would figure out with a bit of study and thought. What will they say at my funeral? What was it that my grandfather seemed to do so right in life? What matters? What doesn’t? What and how will I teach all of this to my new daughter? What did my grandfather and grandmother do to be in a relationship where they loved and respected each other so much? Etc. Questions that I had never really asked myself before. It was on that powerful day that I suddenly had a whole bunch of new questions. The priest said, “as old life passes, new life is born”. When the time came, I stood up in the middle of a packed church, extended my arms, and held my brand new baby daughter up as high as I could. They asked me if I would be willing to hold up my new daughter for all in the church to see at a certain point in the ceremony. My family is quite spiritual and believed that as old life passes away, new life is born. This was clearly a man that touched a lot of people deeply in life, left the world a better place, and in all the right ways.Īt the time, my wonderful wife and I had just given birth to our first child, a daughter. I knew that these sorts of comments were typical at a funeral, but it was the way that they said it and the sheer number of comments that really blew me away. “I feel fortunate that I had a chance to know him”. Many said: “I am a better person because of him”. They each shared stories of how he had gone out of his way to help them at one point or another in their lives. Many said: “I am a better person because of him”ĭozens of people, with all sincerity, made sure that I knew how lucky I was to have the grandfather I did. As I stood close to the casket with other immediate family to talk to these people as they made their way through the line, I was changed. I was shocked at his wake as the line of people grew and grew and grew and eventually trailed all the way outside the chapel. That day, I arrived expecting family and a few others to be there to pay their respects. He was a terrific man by all accounts, but did not have a lot of material success and lived a pretty simple life. My grandfather was a carpenter his whole life in a tiny German town outside the twin cities. By all accounts my goals and aspirations at the time might not have been much different than many of the eager MBA students that you mentioned. Life was good, I was happy, and I felt like everything was on the right track. I did well in college, got a great job right out of school, and made tons of money at the time for a 20-something. However, I was a good student and was very driven from early on to “be somebody”. As a youngster I came from a blue collar family that didn’t have much (from a material standpoint), but I did have a wonderful, loving and very supportive close family. I have been exploring many of the same topics you speak of in your writings for about 11 years now.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |