Nice list, Jacques. My list of heroes is shorter and even more obscure:
Samuel Weissman & Louis Marcus
My grandfathers
There were two of the smartest people I ever met, but neither ever went to school a single day of his life. Both worked very hard and succeeded at everything they tried. I imagine that if they had been born 80 years later, we may admiring their Silicon Valley achievements right now.
Both came to the U.S. very young and alone, surely knowing that they would never see their birthplace or most of their friends and relatives ever again. They did it to build a better life for themselves and their families.
And they did it all for me, long before I even existed.
That's why I have to succeed; I could never let them down.
I don't want to overstate this, and it's been brought up before, but I find it interesting to consider the matter of heroes we don't personally know versus those we do.
I don't know whether this has changed, over recent decades. But it seems that we have so much "media attention", these days, that many things we at least ascribe as being very significant to us are actually at great remove from our personal lives.
I don't mean this by way of judgment, but by way of reflection. And introspection: Who has really influenced me, and am I acknowledging -- to myself, or to them -- their roles in my life? Am I using such understanding to make my own decisions and in my own actions?
Taking this a bit further -- perhaps too far and potentially getting a bit judgmental: Am I trying to be on the billboard, or the organization that decides whether the billboard is a good idea for the neighborhood?
Samuel Weissman & Louis Marcus
My grandfathers
There were two of the smartest people I ever met, but neither ever went to school a single day of his life. Both worked very hard and succeeded at everything they tried. I imagine that if they had been born 80 years later, we may admiring their Silicon Valley achievements right now.
Both came to the U.S. very young and alone, surely knowing that they would never see their birthplace or most of their friends and relatives ever again. They did it to build a better life for themselves and their families.
And they did it all for me, long before I even existed.
That's why I have to succeed; I could never let them down.