My 3 Horrifying Revelations at Islands

 

Comments

[Lee_K]

Sounds like a mid-life crisis moment. We've all been there: "Who am I?" "What have I accomplished?" "What happened to all my dreams?" "What will I be remembered for?"

I read an article a few years back in which a sports reporter asked Barry Switzer, former Oklahoma University (National Champions) and Dallas Cowboys (Super Bowl champions) football coach, what he most wanted his legacy to be. He paused for a moment and said, "How about being known as a good father to my children?"

I thought that was a brilliant response and it put things into perspective. Would I like to be known as the guy who created the Grand Unified Field Theory, a scientific formula so difficult that Enstein, Hawking, and other brilliant physicists failed to come up with it? Oh, sure.

But that isn't going to happen. Instead, I have to content myself with the knowledge that like Barry I was also a pretty good father to my kids during some really difficult life events, that I was loyal and loving husband to my wife, and that I have lived a good and moral life with no real regrets.

You, Jeff, are undoubtedly a good father for your girls. You most likely are a good teacher for your students and have probably positively influenced them in ways that you aren't even aware of. And you certainly have entertained us in the International Watch Community with your video blogs. I think that's a pretty good set of accomplishments and something that you can be proud of. Plus, you got another few decades left on this earth to expand on that.

As John Lennon once sang: A working class hero is something to be.

[herculodge]

Good point. I read Karl Marx was a terrible, neglectful father.

[Ulysses]

Almost everyone can reproduce, but few raise their kids properly, so like Lee said, that's something you can be proud of, because it sounds like a lot of hard work that many don't have the patience or the commitment for.

If I didn't already know how old you were, i'd never guess you were older than me, in your mid-thirties or so. You have the personality of someone much younger, and I think it's perhaps the disconnect between how old a person feels and how old they really are that generates a lot of mixed emotions. I feel maybe ten years younger than I really am but the salt and pepper hair gives me away, and people look at you differently because they are trying to fit you into their stereotypical view of what someone of a certain age should look like and how they are expected to behave. You do seem to become less and less visible as you age because we have a very biased, youth-oriented culture. Oriental cultures are the opposite; they respect wisdom and experience.

Even if you do feel invisible, you still matter. The foundations of a house are invisible too, but if they suddenly disappeared it would be instantly clear how important they are.

[herculodge]

We don't respect wisdom here unless a comedian delivers wisdom and makes us laugh.

[Ed]

Keep everything in perspective. In 100 years everyone who ever knew us will be gone. It will be as if we never were, just as it was before we were born. Enjoy your brief visit to this planet. We're all just visiting.

[herculodge]

Well said, but putting those words into practice is a different matter.

[Ed]

Suggest you watch a Twighlight Zone episode called "The Changing of the Guard"