Wise Man, Wise Words (Dedicated to Michael Leslie)

Konichiwa blogger's and readers! So In my quest to learn more about myself and what I want out of life. I realized that I want more spiritual and meaningful connections and relationships, and less material possessions. I want to travel the world to meet new and exciting people, who's views and values differ from my own so that I could possible learn new things, but remain constant in my own beliefs. My only new years resolution to myself is to grow as an individual. Whether that means cutting old habits, or eliminating negative energy, or even being a better friend or individual towards the people I come into contact with on a daily basis. I think that if we should always find a way to remain humble within ourselves and thankful for all that we have (even if it doesn't seem like much), because there will always be someone out there with less......much less.

One of the most amazingly humble and influential people I have ever had the pleasure to meet is my former supervisor at one of my previous jobs for a jewelery company. Besides the fact that he taught me everything I know about diamonds and precious gemstones (I dare a guy to try to propose to me with a shotty diamond lol), he was a friend in every sense of the word. He was older, but wiser in every sense of the word. I remember the times I would get so easily angered whenever I had miscommunication with one of my managers, he would always say, "There is no point in acting irrational as you will rarely get the result you want, nor the result you deserve." He was with the company right from the beginning, and was the reason they branched off into loose diamonds and made (I kid you not) MILLIONS of dollars. He, as well as everyone within the company knew that he should have been promoted, but was overlooked because the company didn't want to pay him any more money, and why would they when he never asked. I believed he was far to humble.

Needless to say they ended up "Letting him go" without much of a reason, and said it was due to "cutbacks" the company was making. How could a company who's revenue was based on the quality and value of the stones they sold, not see the value in such a hardworking, and dedicated employee? I remember the day they "let him go" like it was yesterday, they actually had someone escort him out of the building like he was some stranger, a threat to the company! The faces of everyone around us was nothing short of pure shock and disgust. I had never before witness corporate greed until that moment, and needless to say I was out of there within a month.

This is not to be misconstrued as a sad story. He very quickly landed a very well paying position with another company and is quite happy and content. But from that day I felt empty. He was like a father to me. The father I never had. The father who taught me self worth, self esteem, poise, and self-control over my emotions. He knew I was a ball of fire, opinionated and eccentric. He told me I was like his little sister, and couldn't wait to see the man I ended up with because he would need to be extremely patient (which I certainly agreed with). He told me I could do anything I wanted to do in life, as long as I was willing to work hard for it. He proof read my essays for school, and gave me constructive criticism when necessary. He told me when I was being careless and irrational, and coached me on the games and intentions of men. Sometimes the things he would say would anger me, but I wouldn't be angry for long, because we don't always agree with the things our loved ones say. I believe that he changed me for the better and that I would be a completely different person had I had a father figure around for my lifetime instead of for a year and a half.
I won't lie, sometimes I forget the things he tried to instill in me and lose my temper. When that happens, I just remember the poem he once sent to me that remained a part of me to this day and which I share with anyone who will listen.


"If" By Rudyard Kipling

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,'
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!