Guest Post From Paul!

From Dan: A couple entries ago I put a few words down about Michael's namesake. The 'Michael' I'm referring to is my dad, although four young voices call him Papa Mike now, and with much affection and often; he is a VERY generous grandpa. It seems riffing about my dad stirred up some memories. My dad's friend Paul sent me the story below. It is perfectly and pointedly the kind of energy and counsel I want to project, share, and store here for my kids. And from someone much wiser than me. Which isn’t saying much.

From Paul: We were both 18 years old and without a clue. There we were, thrown into the huge campus of Iowa State University. I joined the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity because the local veterinarian told me I should. I had spent most of my life doing what people told me to do. Joining the fraternity did little to alleviate my insecurities. There were big macho football players, extremely smart guys in engineering, pre-med and architecture and guys from Ames high school that had lots of friends and knew the ‘happening’ spots on campus. I don’t remember the first time I met Mike and his friend Mike Carlix, his high school buddy from Bettendorf. Mike and I quickly became friends and spent most of our time together. Besides the crazy, fun and stupid adventures we had together there is one incident that sticks in my mind. There was one guy in our freshman class named Jones, I can’t remember his first name. His father was a hot-shot lawyer in Des Moines. He was a member of the tennis team, drove a Jaguar convertible and had lots of money. As with many guys in the fraternity, he intimidated the hell out of me. One day he made a derogatory comment about Mike’s last name during a pledge meeting. I could tell it pissed Mike off. Shortly after the meeting Mike asked me to come with him, he had something to do. We found Jones playing a pinball machine in the basement of the fraternity. Mike calmly, and much to my surprise, jumped down his throat letting him know what a jerk he thought he was and demanding an apology. I was trying so hard to fit in that I couldn’t imagine confronting a guy that had so much apparent wealth and influence. To my surprise Jones apologized and shrunk away like a dog with his tail between his legs. From then on Jones tried his best to stay clear of Mike and treated him with respect when they were together. What a life lesson! You didn’t have to try and fit in. You didn’t have to take crap from people. And it was OK to take risks. I have learned a great deal from Mike and consider him to be my closest friend through all these years. Thanks Mike….