I've just returned from a two-week vacation in Japan. It's been a while since I've been on vacation, and it was quite the experience. There's a whole lot I could write about my vacation experience, but, I am compelled today to write about two men who are heroes of mine.
On the plane ride back from Japan, I had the opportunity to watch a documentary on Robin Williams. I cried so much, and even as I write this, I'm crying. Robin Williams touched the lives of so many in a positive way, yet he had his difficulties. I suppose that's an understatement. Nobody who had achieved a life of honor and achievement has not had their difficulties. Life is difficult - those who embrace the difficulty of life and live through it are the ones we who we look up to - the ones whom we think of when times are rough, the ones we think of with admiration. The ones who give us the whatever it takes to keep going sometimes.
Robin, though incredibly talented, and born to a well-off family, did not lead the picture-perfect life. He lived through 3 marriages and difficulties with substance use. Ultimately, it was a brain disease that took his life; his most cherished organ (or maybe 2nd cherished, if you listen to his comedy) was ultimately his demise. Isn't that the way it goes sometimes. Yet he made millions of us laugh and cry and feel. Here was a person who lived life to the fullest - the good, the great, the bad, the sometimes ugly - he was there for it. Not a perfect person, by any means, but one who hung in there, and entertained us all while doing so (I have a soft spot in my heart for entertainers).
The other is Wayne Dyer. Here was a man who grew up fatherless, yet did not let that stand in the way of his advancement. In many ways, the way he grew up propelled him toward success. Wayne, like Robin, I think, was a seeker. And Wayne also made his life quite public, through his writing and his speaking. He led his life unashamedly, knowing that life, his life, any life, is a process of growing and discovery. One can see his growth by reading the books he published. Like Robin, too, Wayne grappled with his own inner demons. There was a certain sense of ego that one could see in Dr. Dyer with which he must have struggled with often. People who are in the public eye seem to have evident egos, with which they either do well or not. I think Wayne handled his pretty well.
These gentlemen are my heroes because their lives were an open book. There wasn't a lot of pretense. Both of these men treated others who they didn't know well the same as they would treat their best friend. I think both of them had a certain humility - humility being the knowing of one's rightful place in the scheme of things. Both lived from the heart, and both shared their lives pretty openly. Both were men I could trust to tell me the truth, each in their own way.
Both men, through living their lives with purpose, helped to change the lives of others. I think that right there is the definition of a good person. They made a real difference in the lives of those around them.
I think we all need people to whom we can look up to. And it doesn't necessarily make a difference whether those we look up to are famous or not - I think it's just that we recognize somebody whose life made a difference in our own - somebody who makes us cry when we think of them, or somebody whom we're grateful that they were around for us.
I don't know that either of these men desired fame in their lives. I believe that both lived from their hearts, and that's what I recognize most in the people who help me to live well. I am blessed that I have heroes in my life, both famous and unknown, whose presence make me want to live better - to live a life that leaves a positive imprint. I aspire to that.
Namasté,
Ken
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