Got Something to Learn?
March 13, 2015
My Puerto Rican Grandmother could not read or write. My father’s mother lived the early part of her life in an orphanage in Dallas and didn’t graduate from high school.
My father’s father was an alcoholic. My mother’s father killed himself after his rooster lost a cock fight. My mother only made it to the third grade. At one point, it was suggested that my mentally ill, but loving, mother be institutionalized. My father went to the 9th grade before he joined the military at age 16. He was what might be called a functional alcoholic. Three of my siblings abused controlled substances and are deceased for an assortment of reasons.
As for me, I failed the first grade. My elementary school principal told me that I would probably never get out of high school. As a teenager, I worked in the construction industry with men who had been in and out of jail. Sometimes I was chastised for going to college. Despite each of these individuals and my own shortcomings, I feel blessed to have learned from each of these unique characters and situations.
I learned love, perseverance, commitment and the importance of making good decisions in all aspects of my life. Throughout my life, I have mentored young people who have had similar experiences. Often they ask me, “How do you seem to always know what I’m thinking?” There are no accidents in life. We have all been blessed with the challenges we encounter in our lives. It is up to us to learn from them and not get caught up in the negatives. Always seek the positive and learn and grow. This concept works at home, on the job and in any environment, if we seek to use it.
The military uses self-reflection as we do at KING AEROSPACE. The Army calls it After Action Review (AAR) and we call it a Post Mortem Project Review. Just reviewing the chinks in our armor is not enough. We must review our processes and fill the gaps to avoid repeating the same mistakes and to build on our successes. The goal of this (often humbling) review is to identify what went right, what went wrong and, bottom line, how to be better in the future. I often remind myself that in failure is when I learn the most. God knows that I have failed countless times, but with the right spirit, I’ll keep striving to get it right as long as I am breathing.
At 62, I am still learning and still trying to share with others so that they can avoid my countless mistakes. I share these stories to give others hope and to help them learn how to get on a straight path and enjoy this journey called life. It’s taken me a lifetime of effort and often the best lessons came from those teachers who would have been easy to overlook. So often the smallest gestures were the truest blessings!
Never forget that you have always got something to learn, and just as important, you’ve got something to teach.