know.no mediocrity

Merry Christmas Friend of the Human Race

19 years ago yesterday I lost one of the most amazing people in my life. He got what it meant to be a good human being, a pillar of guidance and compassion, of encouragement, of seeing all that you are and could be and had in side of you and show you in a perverbial mirror through his words that he believed in you and you should believe in you too. He had a way of genuineness and love that was known by all who ever encountered his presence. He was a Friend of the Human Race. He was my father.  My father had survived the bloodiest perils of the Korean war only to be taken from this planet in a terrible way by a random tree limb that crushed his vehicle as he drove down the road with his 11  year old daughter, my sister getting prepared for our traditional Christmas Eve Dinner . She survived and today is an amazing young woman with her own Law practice built upon the values he put into all of his 5 children, be the best you can be have respect for yourself and others and do the right thing. I am very proud of her and of the legacy my father left behind. My father believed that the good in the world can surmount evil, that the greatest gift of human kind was the gift of believing in oneself and to bring out the best in all you encounter . He once told me when I was fourteen  “throughout your lifetime you will be able to do things that most men will only dream about. Remember these words remember this moment I know what I see in you.” He made me believe in myself. He taught me never act macho or show off because I was an athletic man, “be yourself he said, you automatically are macho enough as a man, no one will remember you for your showing off, but for how you made them feel when they were in your presence.” “Anyone can hold in their true emotions or feelings, the strongest of men are not afraid to express themselves and let other know how they feel about them, be a strong man.”  Your impression is important be yourself. As an inquisitive child at the age of 7 if I asked him a question rather than just give me the answer, he would hand me a book and tell me the answer to my question was in between pages 7 and 107 and when I found the answer to let him know. He taught me how to relentlessly seek the answers that satisfied my quest for knowledge and to check that source against another and another to get more than one viewpoint. Who do you listen to? “Only listen to and associate with those who have what you want and or know what you want to know.”  “Read, educate yourself and it will be with you forever.” “Never accept mediocrity as good enough, and never tell anyone they are below you or make them feel that way.” “Lead others not just through your words but through your actions.”

“A man is not judged by what he says but what he does” This statement was so important to him that we put it on his head stone.

Merry Christmas Dad your memory and energy continues to live on and influence others. To all who read these words I hope you as well, will to be inspired to be like my father a Friend of the Human Race.

Know.no mediocrity