Angels Part 6: West

The goal of any motivational speaker is to find a mix of stories and anecdotes to support a specific group of messages to instill in people an inner, deeper feeling of empowerment. I realize that sounds as if I’m simplifying what I and other colleagues do. To some degree though everyone has the ability to inspire. Some do it professionally, some do it on amateur level. This column, for instance, is an active way for those who read it to think about things in their life.

Passive inspiration, inspiration just by watching and paying attention to the signs and coincidences in life, is equally if not more powerful than listening to some joe standing on stage and talking about tragedy and triumph.

Recently several good career occurances happened in my life. The timing of these instances are quite coincidental but all, in a large way, are in great tribute to one person in my life.

About four years ago my friends and I tried to start an on line blog. I got the idea from the student radio station at the University of Missouri who wrote a hilarious blog about the idiosyncracies on life. My friends and I attempted the same. At that point I was not a very good editor or organizer of this e-zine.

A short time later, my friend Chris West started sending us daily thoughts over e-mail. Here are some of them:

A few days ago I was driving on I-794 in downtown Milwaukee.
Though I was not using the I-43 North ramp that shoots off of 794,
I did glance at a construction sign beside the ramp, since it's always
nice to have warning of future construction concerns.
The sign read "Ramp may be closed starting April 12."
What?  "May be closed?"  That officially tells me nothing.
I mean, am I really going to take an alternate route if
there's a chance that my usual ramp is open, and I can check
to see if it's open? Certainly not. So effectively I'm going to
do exactly the same thing as I would have before, only this time if the
ramp is closed, I'll think "Well, they said this might happen."
Thanks for preparing me for that letdown Wisconsin DOT.  Next
time let's be a bit more definitive with your closings.

Wanting to write and wanting to write on things that were more related to basketball, Chris then switched his attention to college and Wisconsin High School basketball. This was the incarnation of Chris West Basketball Hoops (linked to the left and mentioned before). After one year of doing it, and with a close readership, Chris felt very happy at his hobby. He was also very dedicated.

That summer Chris was contacted by the editor of a large sourcebook for college basketball. Essentially it’s THE preseason guide to college basketball. Soon after that he was quoted by other bloggers who had been writing for a while about college basketball. Then he was interviewed on a radio show. During this fantastic second season of his blog, he was also quoted twice, once in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and once in the New York Times.

I marveled at his success. At the same time Chris’ blog was taking off I was the keynote speaker at the GLACURH Conference at UW La Crosse. I realized, as I waited nervously back stage, that what had gotten me there was similar to the way Chris received so much attention. Do what you love doing, regularly, taking every opportunity to make the most of it.

As both the one year anniversary of this blog is approaching, and with all the other good success I’ve had since remembering and practicing Chris’ same diligence, I’d like to take time to honor Chris for being a passive inspiration in my life.

Even a few weekends ago, Chris and my friend Kosta arranged for a dudes weekend where at one point Chris played host for dinner and a place to rest our festive persons. Throughout time Chris has always done these simple things to ensure that our group of friends has stayed in contact, or to show his support for one of our successes, or even to show the joys in being a kid (the purchase of a Turbo arcade game which is now in his basement brings to mind that you can always spoils yourself).

He is a seasoned writer. He is a good friend. And he is an inspiration to my writing.

pb

PS And to all of you who are enjoying the holiday season, celebrate with gusto and passion, buy a gift for someone whom you haven’t seen in a while, and welcome the ne year with excitement and hope!