Post updated Sunday, May 14, 2017.
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Dear Seeker of Success,
Today being Mother’s Day, I reflect on the fact that it’s been just over 10 years since my beloved mother, Sylvia’s, passing.
That’s a picture of me with both my parents, circa 2003.
I remember that day like it was yesterday.
Reflecting on her life, I can only repeat what I’ve said many times:
Her Influence On Me Is What Made It Possible
For Me To Be The Teacher (And Learner)
That I Am Today
My mother modeled for me the notion that if you didn’t have the answer to a problem, you should go find it.
Don’t pretend you know if you don’t.
Admit it, and then go find out.
And if there isn’t any answer, go be the one to create it, and prove it.
Mom also taught me in stories and metaphors (the foundation of my own teaching style).
Rather than saying directly, “don’t get too sure of yourself” she would say, “Watch out for your Achilles heel”.
She would then go on to explain the story of how Achilles’ mother dipped him in the river Styx to make him invulnerable to harm, but of course since she held him upside down by the feet, that spot was left vulnerable.
Now, if you’ve ever wondered why I seem so determined to stick my finger in the eye of traditional thinking, and even the less traditional world of the PUA community, I can give you
Another Story About My Mom And How
She Influenced Who I Became
One day, when I was around 7 years old, I was sassing her and back-talking.
Surprise, eh?
Anyway, she shook her index finger at me as she would often do when I pissed her off (although I suspect she also found me amusing too) and said, “Kid, if you don’t watch it, you’re going to be an iconoclast when you grow up.”
“What’s that?” I inquired.
She answered, “That’s someone who goes around knocking over other people’s sacred idols”.
“Cool,” I remember thinking to myself.
“I want to be THAT!”
And so I am.
Sometimes perhaps to my own social detriment, but as Mom also used to say, “Fuck ’em if they can’t take a joke”.
For real.
Dammit, she was right.
Peace, and we will love you forever, Sylvia…
RJ
93/93
“Love under Will shall be the whole of the Law”
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