Accomplishment

It would be unfair to ask you if you know whom the smartest man in the world was ... because hewas my Great Uncle Leonard.

Born in the 1840's, he was my Danish Uncle and I lived ever summer with him until I was 10.  Unfortunately, he was crushed by a logging truck in 1967 .... heep big old!  Yeah, he was estimated to have been around 124 but since there was no birth certificate for him ... oh well.  He immigrated in 1892 to the USA and was listed as retired.  One morning we were working on his dairy and I commented that so much needed to be done that there was no hope for the two of us to do it all!  He stopped hammering for a moment and commented that his goal each day is to just do ten extra things, he would not have done otherwise.  I was not the sharpest stick in the woodpile, so I asked him what he meant.

"Well, I have all of the stuff I have to do every day, so I just add ten things to each day's work...."

And he did ... and I thought on this.

Come college and one day I was practicing my long range shots with Dutchman, whom was my spotter.  I was just coming up on graduation and Dutchman commented that he was so surprised that I could do aq colle3ge degree in just two years!  So, I told him about Leonard and his ideas.  Dutchman went on make it about twenty extras a day and will probably die from this one of these days :(  He is working himself to death, I understand why but it saddens me greatly!  But his patents and list of accomplishments are impressive!  Virtually all PC users use or have used his brainstorms.

And he passed Leonartd's advice on to his sons.  One listened and not runs his own multinational company.  The other .... well, one of the reasons Dutchman works so hard, so his grandchildren not grow up living under a tree!  eepah!, that boy ...

As for me, I passed my Leonard tales on to a host of young men I mentored through the years and my children.  Unfortunately, most do not listen nor remember, but for those whom do try and do more, they have been rewarded for their efforts.  My two Cossack daughters have listened and accomplished far more than I would have thought possible of them!  Silly father!

And then there is me.  Since retirement, I studied forensics and was crippled in an auto accident a quarter short of graduation ... sigh.  And, I would admit that I have sloughed of these past three years!  I could not have done much as it was but I could have done a little more!

Today, I feel alive for the first time in years!  Yes, three days ago and four heart failures - today, I want to run and jump, maybe even roll in a sunbeam, in a field of clover :)   !

(Thanks to my continuing amnesia, this post is completely based on an essay I wrote in college on my most unforgettable character in my life.)