I think it's fair to say that my grandfather is the person to be blessed - or blamed - for shaping me into the person I am today.
His was a classic immigrant's tale: he came to the United States from Russia as a child, took up a trade as a young man - he was a bricklayer - and then fate and family intervened such that he was never to rise much above a life of hard work offering a respectable living, but little else.
By the time I came on the scene, not much else was needed. My grandfather was poised to retire when my dad died. But my father's passing, and my mother's ensuing financial plight, meant that grandpa would have to help provide for us.
A bad turn for him. A good thing for me.
I had a childhood filled with grandfatherly lectures on all kinds of matters: On the value of taking chances (chances he'd never had the opportunity to take). On the importance of doing the right thing (even if that wasn't the most expedient course of action). On the things that REALLY matter in life (money wasn't one of them, but on the other hand...). I learned from my grandfather's lectures almost until the day he died at age 93 -- when he informed me that it was time for him to meet his maker, even if the rest of us thought otherwise. (I should mention that, in his last years, grandpa had taken to checking in with me in the middle of the night... despite the 4 AM hour, he'd always begin the call with "So, what's new?")
When I'm back in my hometown, I sometimes drive past the senior citizens center where my grandfather helped to build an ornate brick fence. At the time it was going up, I recall him holding forth about the importance of taking pride in your work. I also remember how much he enjoyed chatting with "some of the old folks" inside the retirement home. Those thoughts from a man well into his eighties.
I believe we have many mentors as we come of age. I like to think that we continue to grow thanks to the advice of others, all the while giving back by sharing what (in my case, I suspect, precious little) wisdom we've acquired.
My grandfather was a mentor, a role model - a great guy. I learned from him... loved him... and, even as I write this, resolve to be more mindful of his many lessons.
January is National Mentoring Month. Most successful people say they had mentors along the way who guided and encouraged them. The Harvard Mentoring Project has been conducting videotaped interviews and collecting written essays in which prominent people from various fields talk about their mentors. Who mentored you? --The Harvard Mentoring Project