I attended a retirement party last night for a Vice President for the company I work for. He is retiring after 30 years with the company, in which I have had the pleasure of working with him for the last 12. His speech was one of the most powerful and inspirational speeches I have heard in a long time. Since so many people in attendance had asked him for a copy of his speech he emailed it to everyone this morning. As it is 12 pages long, I can’t post everything but want to pass along the highlights and share what I have learned from it.
He started out his speech with these words:
“Please just sit back …..relax …… and ALLOW me to try to engage BOTH your mind ….. and hopefully your HEART”.
He summarized at the end the following with these MOST important words/phrases to include it every day conversation:
Most important single word – any word, but “I” (ex: you, we, and us)
2 words - Thank you
3 words – I am sorry, I am wrong, I don’t know
4 words – What would you do?
5 words – I love being with you (not specifically in the romantic way)
He talked about how when tragedy hit his family at a young age (his mother passed away unexpected on Christmas Eve when he was 14; he decided he could follow 2 paths. And I quote:
“Eventually, the most important thing I learned from this experience was that I had the POWER to make a choice –
· I could agonize over the experience and wallow in self-pity for the rest of my life …….. or
· I could try to be optimistic and find a way to make some sense out of it”
He chose the latter and has done a wonderful job following this train of thought his entire life. He spoke about following his dreams - he is going into education. He is of early retirement age and will make an EXCELLENT teacher. He is kind, patient and has taught me personally so much over the years.
He talked about following your dreams, being virtuous and passionate in everything you do, living in and appreciate the moment, and my favorite and what I feel I need to put more in practice myself…
“It’s NOT what you PUT IN WRITING or SAY that is most important…….. Rather it is what the OTHER PERSON HEARS …….. AND what they SEE".
His speech really inspired me and reassured me that I am making the right decision for me to FOLLOW MY DREAMS and strive to become a YA reference librarian. I also had a new found friend provide me with this quote that I love:
“Find a job you love and you'll never work another day”. - Confucius
That is what I am going to do and try to live my life follow some of Ralph’s philosophy.
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