Thursday, November 30, 0002
I wanted to share some of my memories of the conversations and trips to the WWII Museum and the Albacore Submarine I shared with my grandpa over the years. However, after spending the past several days with my mind flooded with memories I wasn�t able to select any specific memories to share. The reason I cannot think of any special memories to share is not because I cannot think of any, but because there are so many memories, and they are all equally special. I have been reading How To Win Friends and Influence Others by Dale Carnegie. The cardinal principal that all fulfilling human relationship is founded on is the ability to sincerely appreciate others. �William James said: �The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.� Here is a gnawing and unfaltering human hunger, and the rare individual who honestly satisfies this heart hunger will hold people in the palm of his or her hand and �even the undertaker will be sorry when he dies.�" -Dale Carnegie When I first read this passage a month ago I was only able to take it at face value. After pondering my memories and relationship with my grandpa for a while, I realized that he was the type of person Carnegie was talking about. He didn�t always have a smile on, but the second you started talking to him his face lit up with a sincere smile of appreciation for what you were saying; from the joy he received from conversing with you and the opportunity to learn more about you. He has always been a role model to me because of a special bond we shared: from my childhood when I would sit in my little leather rocker he made me, just like his, smoking my bubble pipe in my Mets jacket, just like him; to my inspiration for woodworking. And now he has inspired me to try to live as fulfilling life as he did by becoming selflessly concerned with making others happy, by becoming sincerely interested in others. The bond we have is indescribable, but will always remind me of the results of how he treated others. I will always be his little Champ and he will always be Grandpa for: �If you believe in forever, then life is just a one-night stand.� -Righteous Brothers, Rock & Roll Heaven
