My fondness for my son-in-law, Keith, grew on my daughter’s college graduation day. In his toast to her, he said “among the many things I love about you is that you I am a better person for knowing you.”

He’s right, of course, as she makes me a better person, too. And Keith makes my daughter better and has a positive effect on our whole family.

So the thought hit me – who makes us better people?

While I consider myself solely responsible for my own actions and inactions, many people have made me a better person and a few have made me worse.

The average teacher in grade school spends about 700 hours a year with their students. I went to good parochial schools so most of my grade and high school teachers made me a better person. And a few wasted most of those hours with me and therefore I was worse for knowing them.

Teachers come in all shapes and sizes in our lives. Everyday mentors are not nearly as obvious as our school teachers and some people never notice them. But they are just as, if not more, important.

Is there someone you hang out with that’s funny and therefore makes you funnier?

My brother, Terry, makes me funnier.

Is there someone who whines a lot and therefore makes you whine?

Hell, I make myself whine but a few friends are particularly infectious on that side of my nature.

Do you have a partner in your work that covers your weaknesses, and you theirs and so you and they are becoming better at what you do?

Jake Crocker, Tim (Patrick) McCarthy and Bill Leamon cover for me and teach me from their ways of doing things. Bill his incisiveness, Tim has his mother’s patient and relentless nature and Jake with his amazing ability to weigh all sides of an equation.

Name a few people who make you better. It helps to remember you’re a student even if you are also a mentor to the same person. It also helps to remember to notice those things you admire in them and strive to learn. And finally it may make you remember to spend more time with those people.

My greatest mentors, the people who made me better for having known them were my Mom and Dad. They were both great observers of other people, too, noticing traits they admired or wanted to avoid.

Now that they’re gone, their spirit lives on as I try to learn from and show others a positive progression on the journey.

Peace,
Tim McCarthy