I could go on all day about my own father if I did not first limit the scope of my conversation. As such, I would like to tell you about one of the most important life lessons he has taught me. It started years ago, late at night in a field somewhere now unknown to me. I barely remember any details but the sky was clear and we were out with a number of amateur astronomers star gazing. The universe was unfolding in front of me and my little mind could barely comprehend the vastness of what I was looking at. But I wanted to. I wanted to take in all the stars and planets. I wanted to know all about nebulas and constellations, black holes and naked singularities. I wanted to be an astronomer.
My dad's response: "I don't care what you choose to be as long as you are the best you can be at it."
While this may not be his exact words, they are what stuck with me and I would like to elaborate on what it meant to me. To be sure, it is slightly different than what some fathers tell their sons, often creating much stress and anxiety later on. He did not tell me to be the best, he told me to be my best. With this, he emphasized that while results matter, so do intentions. I continued to learn about space and did several projects on the planets and the solar system and to this day, if an astronomical special comes on TV, I'm bound to find myself glued to the tube til its over. But even as a child I realized that my dream of becoming an astronomer would conflict with another goal of mine: to be a father.
I cannot tell you when I came upon this thought, but some time very early in life I became entranced with the magic of life and how the responsibility of fatherhood came with benefits no other profession did. And it worried me that, as an astronomer, I would basically become a night owl - which with my limited knowledge of familial types, meant it would be a hard profession on my family. You see, one of the greatest things a parent can do is to spend time with their child. My father, for one, made it a priority to go to at least one field trip per year when I was growing up, often making it to multiple. This being no easy feat as his job was very demanding. For this I admired him. He did not spend as much time with me as either of us would liked, but from what I saw, he thoroughly enjoyed his work and I loved hearing as much as I could about it. To me, he wasn't just doing his best, he was the best at what he did - if for no other reason than being able to balance an incredible work load and family.
And so, with astronomy out of the question I was without a profession to work towards. Later I would bounce around from music teacher to math teacher to psychologist to elementary school teacher to hotel manager and finally to philosopher. I really liked this last one but I was torn. What is a philosopher? While that question alone deserves its own blog, essentially, a philosopher is what I am as a foundation. From there I will build a character that I would be happy to associate with as my being. As for an occupation, I've decided to become an "expert potential extractor". This, like fatherhood, takes many forms but in short it entails that whatever I do, I will help people - using all of my love for astronomy, math, music, art, psychology, management and philosophy - to become the best _______ they can be. My life's work will be to pass on the message my father passed on to me not just to my son (and future children), but to all those whom I have the pleasure of meeting.
To this end I would like to give a shout out to my father for being the best father he could be!
No comments:
Post a Comment