My new son, who now is two years old, and a new one on the way. I look at pride at Patrick, who now is 15. He was six back then and I wanted him to watch all the events unfolding on CNN so he would know why he had to wait in long lines at the airport and would know why his life had other problems that I never faced earlier in my life. He still is scared of flying on planes. I hope he gets over that.
Maryam and I have had an extraordinary amount of fun and we’ve been around the world lots of times (Milan, now two, has been to Europe four times).
The past eight years have been extraordinary in my life. But it all started with that morning eight years ago when life reminded me that we’re not in control and that all we have is now.
This is Robert Scoble talking about the 9/11. About how his life has turned around …about how learning that we are not in control really lets us do a lot more with the things we CAN control to some extent – like our attitudes, perspectives and responses in life ….
And I am taken back to the days of my childhood – when my parents openly shared their struggles, when we saw poverty up close, when my parents talked about the child they lost to cancer, when I saw suicides in the family and heard the rest of the family discussing them …..
Every single morning I’d walk past poor children – begging for food.
I was only 5 or 6, like Robert Scoble’s son. And I got it. I got that not everyone was as fortunate as I was. I am thirty something now and it is hard to imagine kids get these things at 5 or 6, but they do ….
I stole money from my sister’s piggy bank to give away to the Aayah. And saved chocolate to give it to her son.
The “unshielded childhood” made me who I am –
- a fighter who is turned off by very little
- a giver – sometimes generous beyond sensible
- and very paranoid when it comes to somethings – like maintaining a balance in the bank – no matter what …
- and almost stupidly passionate
But then, it is all okay, I think. At 30 something, life is great. Emotional intelligence needs some degree of exposure and I am grateful I got that exposure. And what is a little exposure if it can help me focus on the right stuff and the stuff I can control for the rest of my life?
And yes, I love being a fighter.