Humble Heart

It is not unusual for a Father to hire a son to work for him. However, it is a bit unusual for a son to hire a Father, but that is exactly what I did back in 1994. My father had just retired from his job as an electrical engineer at Proctor & Gamble, but was still fairly young at 60. And being a humble guy he was happy to help me with my growing business. 

My Dad was more than just a Dad to me. He was my hero, the smartest guy I knew, and a total MacGyver that could fix anything. He was kind, compassionate and treated my mother like a queen. Plus, he always made time for me and made it a point to tell me he was proud of me and loved me. Maybe that’s why he had so many friends. And yet if I had to name one trait that stands out more than any other…it would be his humble heart. I’ll give you two examples.

- In 1967 my Dad was a USMC Lieutenant at Camp Pendleton. He drove a beat up 55 Chevy to work every day and since it was the era of Hippies and Flower Children, my sister and I thought it would be cool to decorate his car, so we put flower decals and “Peace and Love” stickers all over it. Needless to say, when my Dad saw his car he wasn’t happy. No tough Marine wanted sissy stickers all over his car, but my Dad was different. He told us he appreciated the thought, but that maybe just one sticker would be enough. We took off all the stickers except one big flower decal with the word “Peace” in the middle and off to work he went. We kind of figured he would remove that flower sticker before he got to the base, but he didn’t. That sticker stayed in place for years, an obvious example of his humility.

- In 1969 my Dad was stationed at the Tustin Air Base and was in charge of a Helicopter Squadron that was preparing to go to Vietnam. One of the men under his command flipped out on LSD and tried to commit suicide by climbing to the top of one of the huge Helicopter Hangers. My Dad climbed up after him, 300’ in the air, and wrestled with him for over an hour before paramedics were able to subdue him. They gave my Dad the Marine Corp Medal of Valor, but he never talked about it. Not only that, after he passed away I found the Medal and a letter signed by President Johnson buried in the bottom of his desk drawer. He never talked to anyone about the Medal or the letter, just another example of his amazing humility.

Unfortunately, after working together for only a few years, my Dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer. During the last few weeks of his life, I visited my Dad every day at the hospital. Here again he was brave and humble, never once complaining about his situation or talking about himself. Instead he would always ask me how I was doing and what was going on in my life. As I sit here writing this Monday Message I can see now that he was teaching me the absolute best example of humility…that we should always care more about other people… than ourselves!

Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself than of other people, 

nor does it mean having a low opinion of your gifts.  

It means freedom from thinking about yourself at all.

~ William Temple