GREENSBORO, N.C. — This one is gonna be hard to get through. Last week I lost my grandfather, my domino sparring partner and the best fishing buddy a guy for ask for.
That last picture speaks a thousand words doesn’t it. Let’s just say I was not a particularly fit child. The kids on the playground went from calling me Ben Briscoe to Ben Crisco like the lard.
It could have been easy to fall in a dark hole being bullied every day. But my grandfather taught me not to take the bait.
He always reminded me that it’s more important what’s inside like a big brain and even bigger heart.
Boompa, as I call him, preached kindness to everyone. In fact he told me whenever those bullies say something mean to you, don’t be mean back. Compliment them on something. They obviously need love. It worked. They started being nice too.
Most importantly, Boompa stressed to extend that same kindness to yourself. At the end of every single phone call he would always say: today go look in the mirror and see the kind, brilliant and handsome man smiling back at you.
He didn’t just tell me this. Boompa ended almost every conversation like this. From his best friends to the clerk at the gas station that he never met before.
As a kid it was so embarrassing but the older I get the more I realize how powerful his message was. How important self-worth is.
So today, in his honor, I’m asking that you go look in the mirror and see the kind, brilliant and good looking person smiling back at you.
That’s Boompa’s 2 Cents.
And to me it’s worth all the money in the world.