Everyone Has a Story
Maddy Glotfelty
My personal philosophy revolves around helping people, and the eudaimonia that a life spent helping those who need it most provides. I have known this for a long time, known that the life I lead is one of relative prosperity. That is not to say that my life is perfect, but my life was built on a stable foundation provided for me by my parents. I have never wondered when the next meal would be or felt the numbness that can hollow out a person when that meal is not forthcomingI. I never questioned whether I would be able to survive the night without a roof to protect me, or wondered if I would ever have the right to an education. If I do nothing else with my life, I want to provide one sliver of the fortuitous nature of my life to the people who need it. I want to help people, and I want to learn from them in turn. If there is one thing that I have realized throughout my life, it is that every person has a story to tell, a lesson to teach, if only the people around them are willing to listen, and this statement is never more true than for our elders.
Society too often sidelines the elderly as though a threshold has been reached, and they have nothing more that can be contributed. We seem not to recognize that a lesson and a story can be the difference between joy and despair, the difference between a future that repeats itself to horrific conclusions or mankind's genuine prosperity. I knew this when I sat on my grandfather's lap as a toddler and listened to the life he had led, and those stories that he told me have been a spotlight in an ever darkening and lonely world. A reminder that everybody has a story and if you are willing to listen, there is a treasure worth far more than material riches waiting. Wealths of knowledge, creativity, humor, and imagination reside within every person you have ever met, and lessons about sadness and pain as well. If you do not wish to repeat the wrongs of the past, you must first know that the path was already walked. In the end everyone dies, but the stories you have gained, and memories you made and passed on will long outlive the person who first taught it to the youth around them. All it takes is a story of life and someone who is willing to listen.
My project was based on this principle and the idea that happiness is more achievable if shared with the people around you, because in the end helping others will help you as well. With this in mind I decided to reach out to my elders, people who my mentors have met and referred to me as people who have a story to share. I reached out to Frank Young and Richard Koch in hopes that they would be able to provide insight on their lives for someone who has yet to have lived as much as they have, and they did. I asked numerous questions most of which are listed below with links to the soundbites of their answers. I hope that you are willing to listen and learn. I hope that it helps you to recognize the store of knowledge that these people, and every other living person has gained through hardship, love, mistakes, and joy and it encourages you to inquire as well. No one is without a story, and the gift of immeasurable hours is given to those who are patient enough to listen.
My personal philosophy revolves around helping people, and the eudaimonia that a life spent helping those who need it most provides. I have known this for a long time, known that the life I lead is one of relative prosperity. That is not to say that my life is perfect, but my life was built on a stable foundation provided for me by my parents. I have never wondered when the next meal would be or felt the numbness that can hollow out a person when that meal is not forthcomingI. I never questioned whether I would be able to survive the night without a roof to protect me, or wondered if I would ever have the right to an education. If I do nothing else with my life, I want to provide one sliver of the fortuitous nature of my life to the people who need it. I want to help people, and I want to learn from them in turn. If there is one thing that I have realized throughout my life, it is that every person has a story to tell, a lesson to teach, if only the people around them are willing to listen, and this statement is never more true than for our elders.
Society too often sidelines the elderly as though a threshold has been reached, and they have nothing more that can be contributed. We seem not to recognize that a lesson and a story can be the difference between joy and despair, the difference between a future that repeats itself to horrific conclusions or mankind's genuine prosperity. I knew this when I sat on my grandfather's lap as a toddler and listened to the life he had led, and those stories that he told me have been a spotlight in an ever darkening and lonely world. A reminder that everybody has a story and if you are willing to listen, there is a treasure worth far more than material riches waiting. Wealths of knowledge, creativity, humor, and imagination reside within every person you have ever met, and lessons about sadness and pain as well. If you do not wish to repeat the wrongs of the past, you must first know that the path was already walked. In the end everyone dies, but the stories you have gained, and memories you made and passed on will long outlive the person who first taught it to the youth around them. All it takes is a story of life and someone who is willing to listen.
My project was based on this principle and the idea that happiness is more achievable if shared with the people around you, because in the end helping others will help you as well. With this in mind I decided to reach out to my elders, people who my mentors have met and referred to me as people who have a story to share. I reached out to Frank Young and Richard Koch in hopes that they would be able to provide insight on their lives for someone who has yet to have lived as much as they have, and they did. I asked numerous questions most of which are listed below with links to the soundbites of their answers. I hope that you are willing to listen and learn. I hope that it helps you to recognize the store of knowledge that these people, and every other living person has gained through hardship, love, mistakes, and joy and it encourages you to inquire as well. No one is without a story, and the gift of immeasurable hours is given to those who are patient enough to listen.
Frank Young - Questions and Answers
Frank is a firecracker of a human being and pretty much the epitome of what I want to be when I grow up. He was extremely active in his youth in the civil rights movement, and has since created a family, and helped influence, as well as been influenced, by many people from all walks of life. He believes that everyone is equal above all else, and his character and morals coming out in this interview made it extremely interesting.
Link to Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G54iSDFQYS8
What is one thing you did in your life that influenced the direction you went in a positive way?
Time: 0:00-12:05
What’s a memory that makes you laugh?
Time: 12:06 - 13:56
If you had one piece of wisdom to leave to the world, what would it be and why?
Time: 13:57 - 16:58
What has made you happiest or most fulfilled in your life?
Time: 16:59 - 18:45
What do you remember from being young that you will never regret doing or being a part of?
Time: 18:45 - 23:23
What is the biggest change that has happened over the course of your life historically, from your perspective?
Time: 23:23 - 23:26
Frank is a firecracker of a human being and pretty much the epitome of what I want to be when I grow up. He was extremely active in his youth in the civil rights movement, and has since created a family, and helped influence, as well as been influenced, by many people from all walks of life. He believes that everyone is equal above all else, and his character and morals coming out in this interview made it extremely interesting.
Link to Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G54iSDFQYS8
What is one thing you did in your life that influenced the direction you went in a positive way?
Time: 0:00-12:05
- The impact of teachers
- Time: 3:34 - 5:52
- Civil rights and building a family
- Time: 5:53 - 12:05
What’s a memory that makes you laugh?
Time: 12:06 - 13:56
If you had one piece of wisdom to leave to the world, what would it be and why?
Time: 13:57 - 16:58
What has made you happiest or most fulfilled in your life?
Time: 16:59 - 18:45
What do you remember from being young that you will never regret doing or being a part of?
Time: 18:45 - 23:23
What is the biggest change that has happened over the course of your life historically, from your perspective?
Time: 23:23 - 23:26
Richard Koch
A large portion of my conversation with Richard was not an interview at all but rather a conversation, and from this conversation you can see a better picture of who he is and it adds to the story, so while I asked the questions below, some of the most interesting pieces were when you could hear his personality in the brief interludes before the interview and in between questions, so I chose not to edit them out. Because this is the raw interview though, there is slightly more background noise.
Richard Koch
A large portion of my conversation with Richard was not an interview at all but rather a conversation, and from this conversation you can see a better picture of who he is and it adds to the story, so while I asked the questions below, some of the most interesting pieces were when you could hear his personality in the brief interludes before the interview and in between questions, so I chose not to edit them out. Because this is the raw interview though, there is slightly more background noise.
Questions:
What would you regret never having done, that you did?
What’s a memory that makes you laugh?
If you had one piece of wisdom to leave in the world, what would it be, why?
What has made you the happiest in your life?
What is one happy memory?
What do you remember from being young that you will never regret?
A large portion of my conversation with Richard was not an interview at all but rather a conversation, and from this conversation you can see a better picture of who he is and it adds to the story, so while I asked the questions below, some of the most interesting pieces were when you could hear his personality in the brief interludes before the interview and in between questions, so I chose not to edit them out. Because this is the raw interview though, there is slightly more background noise.
Richard Koch
A large portion of my conversation with Richard was not an interview at all but rather a conversation, and from this conversation you can see a better picture of who he is and it adds to the story, so while I asked the questions below, some of the most interesting pieces were when you could hear his personality in the brief interludes before the interview and in between questions, so I chose not to edit them out. Because this is the raw interview though, there is slightly more background noise.
Questions:
What would you regret never having done, that you did?
What’s a memory that makes you laugh?
If you had one piece of wisdom to leave in the world, what would it be, why?
What has made you the happiest in your life?
What is one happy memory?
What do you remember from being young that you will never regret?