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Unique

By Stephen Philip Walrath on October 29, 2024 7:18 am

Dear Grandson,

“Today you are you!  That is truer than true!

There is no one alive who is you-er than you!”

Dr. Seuss 

You are a wonderful creation that stretches back to the beginning of time, the chain that precedes you is unbroken.  Your DNA is a record of that journey that has taken 4 billion years of trial and error that resulted in you.  According to author Adam Rutherford in A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived, “Not only is the genetic fingerprint yours alone, it’s unlike any other of the 107 billion people who have ever lived!”

Wow!  What a history!  Thankfully, you don’t have to experience all the trials and errors of billions of years in order to live a fulfilling and satisfying life of your own.  All others who have come before, including me, are willing to share our ups and downs and pitfalls of life in order to give you a slight advantage to avoid a pain or relish a joy.  Having said that, wisdom only comes from living which means you too will have to endure and discover all on your own.

Your heart will be broken.  Your spirit will be dismayed.  Your ambitions, hopes and wishes will be sidelined or rejected all together.  And this is called life.  You will also be shocked at some twist of fate that creates joy and surprise.  You will cross paths with kings and queens, machinists and poets and come to find that humans really aren’t that much different after all.  In the midst of it all, you will have periods of despondency wondering how it can ever work out.  It is during these times, you will listen to the song “Hallelujah” and begin to understand how creative artistry will speak to you, the holy or the broken, with that just right lyric or melody when you need it most. 

“I did my best; it wasn’t much

I couldn’t feel, so I learned to touch.

I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you.

And even though it all went wrong

I’ll stand before the Lord of Song

With nothing on my lips but Hallelujah!”

Sometimes you just have to shrug your shoulders and as the songwriter Leonard Cohen expressed, “Look, I don’t understand a fucking thing at all – Hallelujah!  That’s the only moment that we live here fully as human beings.”

Live on my grandson!  Your unique and wonderful journey is all yours, holding firm to the truth; you are loved.  You are valued.  And you are never alone!

Grandpa Steve

Published in Letters to my Grandson

Stephen Philip Walrath
Stephen Philip Walrath

Stephen is an author, teacher, and thought leader in human Value and Worth. He is the author of Thinking Out Loud - Uncovering An Extraordinary Life, Uncommon Sense for Unreasonable Times, Cultivating a Winner from Within, and a Divorced Parent's Guide to Seeing Your Kids.

Stephen has traveled the world teaching Executive Leadership and Value skills on three continents to such companies as General Motors, Trek Bicycles Worldwide, FBI, U.S. Navel Academy, New Scotland Yard, Royal Canadian Mounted Police and hundreds more.
 
Walrath is the Past President of Crime Stoppers International with responsibilities for over 1200 programs in 17 countries. He was the President of Great Radio Broadcasting, transforming a single AM radio station into 8 enterprises doing business in 3 countries, earning him the YMCA’s of America Key Leader Award.
 
Stephen is married with three grown children and lives in southern Wisconsin. He and his wife, Gabriella, are proud shareholders of the Green Bay Packers.

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