|
The Chapters
of Our Lives
It has been said that one's life is like a book, where we write our own chapters, one day at a time. Another theory is that who we become as adults is often a result of a handful of memorable childhood experiences that are indelibly etched into our psyche. Thinking back, I can recall some unforgettable moments of my youth that no doubt molded my perspective of who I was and accordingly, set me on a path to who I have become.
One speaker that I heard many years ago
shared one of his childhood experiences that set him
on his course to his chosen career.
This particular event happened when he was about 8 years old, and just beginning to feel an interest for the opposite sex. His family had vacationed in Hawaii that summer, and among the prized possessions that he returned with was a LOUD Hawaiian shirt and matching Bermuda shorts. So naturally, when the prettiest girl in his class (whom he had a crush on) invited him to a party at her house later that summer, there was no doubt about what he would wear -- along with his favorite cowboy hat and boots!
When the big day arrived, he took one last approving look in the mirror before his Mom drove him all the way across town and deposited him at the little girl's home. He was sure he had knocked it out of the park with this outfit.
As his mother drove away, he knocked on the door and was surprised to discover that there was no one there but the little girl's father, who informed him that there was No Party. It had all been a cruel joke! With no cell phones back in the fifties, he had to wait until his mother returned home so he could call her and ask her to come retrieve him.
After calling home, he went out and sat on the curb in his matching Hawaiian shirt and shorts, cowboy hat and boots, humiliated and crushed, and waited for his Mom. While waiting for her and digesting all that had transpired, he came to one definite conclusion:
He was never going to be Cool. BUT, he reasoned, he could study hard and apply himself and he could be SMART. No one could deprive him of that!
And that is exactly what he did. He went on to earn an academic scholarship to a prestigious university and graduated with honors. And his career since then has been a positive follow through from that one painful incident that he experienced when he was 8 years old.
| 
