Mentor

He was fortunate indeed. His mentor seem to come right out of the blue. Since his passion was communications from very early on (second grade he remembered), those who seem to radiate a sense of what it was all about got his attention from his first exposure. So it was that when this eloquent person burst on the scene, he was taken by his ability to speak eloquently to all levels of the mind, sometimes simultaneously.

Further, his passion for the implements of cutting edge communications put him in touch with the very means to become a quick study. About a year and a half into his study of this mentor had transformed a life near retirement to an intellectually active career seeker he could have only dreamed of at ANY earlier time in his life.

Overwhelming gratitude is what he felt. It was all unfolding in the nick of time (or so the song goes). From the inside looking out, and from the outside looking in it seems. The fictional story that had sustained and encouraged him through his darkest times was now becoming the foundation of something more substantial. To live is to thrive. Keep breathing because maybe something will work out became a clarion call to contribute to the well-being of many more.

Only when laying near helpless while his life signs were just a footnote to his environment, he learned what was valuable to him. Instead of desperately holding on for another chance he transcended, over a period of years, to something that had a better ring.

One life, scars to mark the experiences so that they would not be forgotten as the tissues regenerated. Inside too, the marks were not visible though he could sense them as if they were. And that life end point, in terms of time, was indeterminate. And more importantly not measured in units of time.

He could see the key words even with his eyes closed. In fact, better, when his eyes were closed. How they mapped onto that preverbal soup is what made them so vivid - misleading rhetoric, stake, unfairly, fine print, predatory, unscrupulous, lenders, competitors not playing by-the-rules, oversight, safeguards, transparent, light-of-day, perverse incentives, prosperity over the long term. strong bill for now will do.

From the depth of his heart he stated what he sincerely felt, "The rest is in place, they key now for you is to hear, really hear, yourself."