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Random Quote: Ancoro Imparo ("I am still learning"), Michaelangelo, At age 87.
Did anyone have a hero you wanted to be like growing up?
Someone you looked up to and said,
"Gee wizz, when I grow up I want to be just like......"
There is so much emphasis put on celebrities to be "Role Models" for the children. How about BOTH parents being their fricken "role models"?
(then again maybe that's the problem, have you seen www.thepeopleofwalmart.com?)
I never idolized anyone. I thought some were cool and seemed to have their $h!t together but idolized, no.
I thought my parents were cool and had their priorities straight. They knew when to kick our ass and when to give a hug. I got both.
Not enough ass kicken these days I say. Draw a line and stick to it.
I just had this exact conversation with my two sisters on the Orient Point / New London Ferry across the LI sound. We had an hour to kill and for whatever reason talked about this the whole way. No doubt, youngsters should use their parents as role models, but there is no denying that in reality movie stars and athletic superstars have a HUGE influence on them. My opinion is that you see your Dad's faults; you hear your Mom screaming. Your Priest has bad breath, and your teacher is mean. Movie stars, on the other hand are PERFECT. NBA stars have those cool uniforms and appear with the hail of spotlights and cheering at the start of each game. Add to that, everything that represents traditional American values is, all too often, in their eyes "corny". They are constantly being bombarded by multi media sources trying to point to what is "cool". And then there's the influence of their peers. Not a very easy time to be a parent, is it?
Over many many training courses and other "self development" exercises, when asked that question I always reply - my dad.
Left school at 16 to join the Royal Navy.
Six years later, as a chief, while in port in Derry, Northern Ireland he met my mother. A year later he left the navy and married her. They will celebrate 56 years married December 27th.
When he left the navy he could only pull down a job as a stock man in a local factory. The factory made record turntables. He used to go to work and back on a bicycle.
By moving from England to Northern Ireland he lost many rights he had in England including the right to vote because he was now a Catholic non-property owner.
After I came along, their second child, they realized they needed to increase their income. They pulled enough together to open a fish 'n' chip shop that my mother ran while he continued to work at the factory.
I could tell a ton of stories, some funny some extremely sad (for example my grandfather who had converted to Catholism from protestant being called to the reading of his father's will at the family farm to be told he had been left a penny).
Long story short, my father made production manager at that same plant. It was then sold to a subsiduary of United Technologies and he eventually became plant manager and then, before he retired, European Managing Director of United Technologies Automotive.
Meanwhile they grew the fast food business and now there are 10 outlets in the area run by my family.
In 1986 my father was honored by the queen with the Member of the British Empire (MBE) for services to industry.
And he left school at 16, served his country, and built a business while successfully working a career.
And raised 6 children during the most ugly period in our country's history.
And if you ask anyone who knows him - they would say that he is a gentleman's gentleman.
He turns 80 in February.
I feel no shame in telling people my father is my hero.
My father first and foremost. Born in 1913 he had old school ethics and values. Finished High School and went to work in the depression. Started out as parts counterman and made it all the way to VP/GM of a big store. He has been gone since 1995. His shoe size was a 10 and I wear a 12 never going fill those 10's.
I really can't remember having a hero, or someone that I wanted to be like at a young age. My dad wasn't my hero, he was a good man, but not my hero... Only reason I mention it is I find I am like him in many more ways than I ever thought I would be! Both good, and not so good.
I sorta liked Military heros like in Combat and TV war shows. I think this left a subtle impression on me. My Dad (the only non college graduate in a OCS class of hundreds) was a highly decorated WWII soldier also. He was a hero till I was about 6 or so and then he wasn't anymore. He simply had some kind of PTSD, I suspect and no fathering skills - but we became friends again after I got out of the service. All this very Interesting to me now I very much question our current wars and how we are seduced by politicians and other interests into everyhting war and military.
I also admired both Eisenhower AND Kennedy as a child. That is interesting also as now I have a hard time being anything but cynical of all of our Presidents since Nixon/Ford.
I had NO sports heros. My 5th grade science teacher was a real father figure to me as he had an explorers club where we went camping and learned about science, animals and survival skills in the woods. Years later I found out his wife was formerly one of his students. At least they waited till she graduated from High School to get married. My 10th grade science teacher suggested I pursue engineering instead of chemistry simply for economic reasons - I took his advice and went into chemical engineering which worked out well for me.
__________________ 1st Cav Div Air Assault Infantry RVN
-Can Do........ and .......Carry On -
Last edited by LI Sound Grunt; 12-17-2009 at 06:04 AM.
I did not grow to really appreciate my father til I was well in my 20's. There was the good and the bad. He was not a very good family man, nor was there any way but his way but he had a fuller plate than I realized. He had gotten drafted during the Korean War before my birth. I dont know alot about his service other than he was stabbed, he was only 6 out of 150 to make it out alive of a beach landing and a few other details. I can remember as a kid, him screaming at nights, hitting my mother while he was sleeping, fighting N. Koreans. He brought many demons back from the war. He would never talk about his service much, he literally hated the Army. I know he won the Bronze Star with clusters but that was all I ever knew. He was a stern and authoritative person.
As he grew older, he did mellow a bit. He got to see me grow up. I rememeber his last years in a nursing home. I hated to see him there but it was a neccessity. I started to appreciate the man that I had both not understood all my life but sometimes hated as a young boy. Even when faced with life at a nursing home, I never heard him complain. He had come to peace with GOD and died fighting all the way. He died at age 72. I never fully understood my dad, but I can say the more I learned about him as an adult made me proud to say he was my hero. If I am half the man and little better husband than he was I know I have lived a full life and fruitful life.
__________________ "I'm suing the THT and the guy that made it."
I sorta liked Military heros like in Combat and TV war shows.
Did we ever find out what Vic Morrow was pissed about?
I'm not talking about Sarge, I'm talking about the actor. From Blackboard Jungle to the Twilight Zone, he has that same pissed off look. It really worked for Combat. I used to watch that with my Dad, a WWII vet. I think he actually viewed the show as a comedy; sort of like Hogan's Heroes, if you know what I mean. Either way, a great show..
I can still hear the sound of those Mausers going off.....
Someone said, and I paraphrase,"When I was eighteen, I was embarrassed at how dumb my father was. But, by the time I was 21, I was proud about how smart he had become in three years"
Someone said, and I paraphrase,"When I was eighteen, I was embarrassed at how dumb my father was. But, by the time I was 21, I was proud about how smart he had become in three years"
When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.
- attributed by Reader's Digest, Sept. 1937. This quote has been attributed to Mark Twain, but until the attribution can be verified, the quote should not be regarded as authentic.
__________________ 1st Cav Div Air Assault Infantry RVN
-Can Do........ and .......Carry On -
My dad is dyslexic when he reads the letters get jumbled up on him, still he has passed the VA state inspectors test every time for the last 30 years, was an ASE A1 certified mechanic, had a file full of comendations from people he would stop and help on the side of the road, coming and going from road call outs while he worked for Virginia Power for 30 years.
I dont remember my grandad (dad's dad) but I know he enlisted in the Navy underage in 1917, served untill he was found out, then worked on merchant ships during the 30s he was on issue 13 of his Unlimited Chief Engineer of Steam when he let it expire in 1976, he was the Chief Engineer for the State of Va's ferry system, and leter the Chief Engineer of the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel when it opened in the 60's. During WWII he was a Commander in the CG reserve and ran the steam engineers class teaching his trade.
Im proud of both of them as well as my Uncle Frank my other Grandad, and my step Grandad who served in Vietnam on the PBRs as a craftmaster.
When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.
- attributed by Reader's Digest, Sept. 1937. This quote has been attributed to Mark Twain, but until the attribution can be verified, the quote should not be regarded as authentic.
I thought it was Mark Twain or Will Rogers, but couldn't find the quote. I found a similar quote a couple of months ago, but it was attributed to someone else.
Leonardo da Vinci - engineer, inventor, and artist - fascinated me as a child (still does). Here was a man who more or less went against conventional thinking, which was mainly church doctrine and dogma, and used scientific inquiry about the ways of the world. He wasn't satisfied with the status quo and the old wives tales handed down. His artwork stands on it's own as some of the best of the old masters.Brilliant mind and nimble fingers, the essence of the Renaissance man. Not something your likely to see these days.
Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Chuck Yeager stand out in my mind as true heros for pushing the envelope in aeronautics and space exploration.
And, since this is a boating forum, some guys from nautical history. Captain James Cook, Joshua Slocum, and Sir Ernest Shackleton.
As you may have guessed, I have a few onces of nerd blood. My heros tend to be explorers with a scientific bent, except Slocum, who I really think was the original blowboat bum (and probably the only one I could come close to imitating).
Disclaimer: If you see emoticons, that means the above is written in jest. It is for entertainment purposes only. It is not meant to represent any actual persons, places, or things. It is the opinion of the poster that it is funny. Your opinion may vary. No animals were harmed in the typing of this post but a few egos may have been bruised.
Hero Worship 
1st Cav Div Air Assault Infantry RVN
