This is a thread about people you feel you've been very fortunate to know. Who have you looked up to? What kinds of things have you learned from them?
I'm sure I've been more than a little fortunate in this area. I have known people who are/were awesome role models and am grateful they've been able to enrich my life. Here are just a few of them:
My Papa, i.e. my maternal grandfather (you'll have to forgive me in advance, this is the only long one; feel free to just skim or make your own post)-
He's one of the most peculiar and thoughtful people I know, someone whom I've had numerous intellectual discussions with and has influenced me to try and exercise self skepticism. As it turns out he and I have talked lots of times about the autism spectrum and he's sure he's on it as well, has never been diagnosed by psychologists performing a test like ADOS as was the case with me, but fits the diagnostic criteria very well. In spite of the difficulties that have come along with him being a 78 year old man with ASD, he's a stoic person and has come out on the better end of intense hardships.
As a boy born in 1940 he lived in a literal tar paper shack, and was malnourished much of the time growing up (in fact he left school during certain times to pick cotton in order to support the family, one spring and summer doing this at the age of 10). His good for nothing alcoholic and abusive father left him and his family, and a succession of similarly terrible men came into his life until my great grandfather Bill Posey did his part to salvage the rest of his childhood. There are many horrific, violent, and scary things that happened which I'm not entirely privy to as he'll likely take some things to his grave without telling Nana about them; one thing that I know about which stands out is when the KKK burnt a cross on his uncle's front porch.
The reason that I mention all of these things about his history is how tremendous of a person he's become. He's been a modest philanthropist for over 50 years, he and my grandmother regularly took unfortunate people around them into their home while my mother was growing up (so we're basically talking about just asking people of all different backgrounds and ages "would you like to come and live with us"), he has always been active in feeding and advocating for the poor people living around him, and the ways he's displayed his work ethic throughout his life are so impressive that the related advice he's given me has always stuck with me.
As an employee of a lumber mill in Oregon he had severe ulcers on two occasions and actually continued to pull chain all day while periodically puking into a bucket. When I heard from others about this and asked him, he explained to me that pain is something that everyone has to come face to face with in their lives, and when it comes his way it's not always possible to but if he can he says "hello mr. pain, you're not going to tell me what to think today". In many ways my grandfather has effectively been my primary father figure and there were a couple of years that I lived with him growing up.
Benjamin Jatun (deceased)-
Uncle Benny is my grandfather's cousin but it has always been as customary to call him an uncle as it is customary to use Portuguese instead of English in calling my grandfather Papa. This is so because once Benny was 16 he moved in with my grandfather's family after having been homeless for an extended time period, the length of which I'm actually unaware of. He was illiterate at that time and had next to no education. From that point on he proceeded to develop into the closest brother my grandfather had. By the time I knew him Benny had become one of the most successful people in the town of Manteca, California, and was prospering from the land he owned around Escalon on which he pastured his cattle.
Benny was always a curious person, excited to learn about things, and exemplary in his efforts to improve his lot in life financially and intellectually. He also was very active in the community and became an astounding participant of hunger drives in retirement, often treating such efforts like full time jobs and more than once taking me with him to drive around town randomly handing out food in the most impoverished areas. Benny also was the town's Santa Claus and more than that came to be considered the epitome of Santa Claus for multiple generations in the whole California valley, even garnering attention from people out of state. This is because Benny built his own shack and was known for arranging things with families to design personalized experiences, so that people could take idyllic pictures of their children with him in which the children were visibly excited and happy.
Neil Goodman (deceased)-
If you thought these other people take the cake, along comes Neil. My grandfather met him while just starting one of the many careers my grandfather would have, working as a schoolteacher. Neil was another, older teacher of the previous generation who was exceptionally good with kids and a magnetically warm person. It would take a long time to list his philanthropic activities so I'll spare your time, but he also happened to foster and adopt 13 different kids of all ages.
His whole life people around him and people in his own home took advantage of his good will and he unflinchingly continued to enrich the lives of others. Everyone has their own personal ideas of what love really is and I can assure you that Neil figures into how I understand that subject, Neil was as conscientious and self sacrificial a person as I've known.
I'm sure I've been more than a little fortunate in this area. I have known people who are/were awesome role models and am grateful they've been able to enrich my life. Here are just a few of them:
My Papa, i.e. my maternal grandfather (you'll have to forgive me in advance, this is the only long one; feel free to just skim or make your own post)-
He's one of the most peculiar and thoughtful people I know, someone whom I've had numerous intellectual discussions with and has influenced me to try and exercise self skepticism. As it turns out he and I have talked lots of times about the autism spectrum and he's sure he's on it as well, has never been diagnosed by psychologists performing a test like ADOS as was the case with me, but fits the diagnostic criteria very well. In spite of the difficulties that have come along with him being a 78 year old man with ASD, he's a stoic person and has come out on the better end of intense hardships.
As a boy born in 1940 he lived in a literal tar paper shack, and was malnourished much of the time growing up (in fact he left school during certain times to pick cotton in order to support the family, one spring and summer doing this at the age of 10). His good for nothing alcoholic and abusive father left him and his family, and a succession of similarly terrible men came into his life until my great grandfather Bill Posey did his part to salvage the rest of his childhood. There are many horrific, violent, and scary things that happened which I'm not entirely privy to as he'll likely take some things to his grave without telling Nana about them; one thing that I know about which stands out is when the KKK burnt a cross on his uncle's front porch.
The reason that I mention all of these things about his history is how tremendous of a person he's become. He's been a modest philanthropist for over 50 years, he and my grandmother regularly took unfortunate people around them into their home while my mother was growing up (so we're basically talking about just asking people of all different backgrounds and ages "would you like to come and live with us"), he has always been active in feeding and advocating for the poor people living around him, and the ways he's displayed his work ethic throughout his life are so impressive that the related advice he's given me has always stuck with me.
As an employee of a lumber mill in Oregon he had severe ulcers on two occasions and actually continued to pull chain all day while periodically puking into a bucket. When I heard from others about this and asked him, he explained to me that pain is something that everyone has to come face to face with in their lives, and when it comes his way it's not always possible to but if he can he says "hello mr. pain, you're not going to tell me what to think today". In many ways my grandfather has effectively been my primary father figure and there were a couple of years that I lived with him growing up.
Benjamin Jatun (deceased)-
Uncle Benny is my grandfather's cousin but it has always been as customary to call him an uncle as it is customary to use Portuguese instead of English in calling my grandfather Papa. This is so because once Benny was 16 he moved in with my grandfather's family after having been homeless for an extended time period, the length of which I'm actually unaware of. He was illiterate at that time and had next to no education. From that point on he proceeded to develop into the closest brother my grandfather had. By the time I knew him Benny had become one of the most successful people in the town of Manteca, California, and was prospering from the land he owned around Escalon on which he pastured his cattle.
Benny was always a curious person, excited to learn about things, and exemplary in his efforts to improve his lot in life financially and intellectually. He also was very active in the community and became an astounding participant of hunger drives in retirement, often treating such efforts like full time jobs and more than once taking me with him to drive around town randomly handing out food in the most impoverished areas. Benny also was the town's Santa Claus and more than that came to be considered the epitome of Santa Claus for multiple generations in the whole California valley, even garnering attention from people out of state. This is because Benny built his own shack and was known for arranging things with families to design personalized experiences, so that people could take idyllic pictures of their children with him in which the children were visibly excited and happy.
Neil Goodman (deceased)-
If you thought these other people take the cake, along comes Neil. My grandfather met him while just starting one of the many careers my grandfather would have, working as a schoolteacher. Neil was another, older teacher of the previous generation who was exceptionally good with kids and a magnetically warm person. It would take a long time to list his philanthropic activities so I'll spare your time, but he also happened to foster and adopt 13 different kids of all ages.
His whole life people around him and people in his own home took advantage of his good will and he unflinchingly continued to enrich the lives of others. Everyone has their own personal ideas of what love really is and I can assure you that Neil figures into how I understand that subject, Neil was as conscientious and self sacrificial a person as I've known.
