Undue Influence

For a year stretching between 1986 and 1987, I was fortunate enough to have a mentor. I worked with him at the long-defunct restaurant The Maple Root Inn, and greatly considered him a father figure. Despite working two jobs and being utterly dedicated to his wife and four kids, he had taken this punk kid under his wing. He provided direction and outlook that was desperately needed. I really needed more than he or anyone could give. I am not a child from a "broken" home, but things were pretty badly shattered and had been for years. I’ve regretted the loss of the mentor but never blamed him and did my best to implement the things he taught. I was lucky to have him. His influence includes balancing loyalties to both myself and the troubled family, fighting my own lazy streak and what was then (if not still now) my crazy streak. I still think I never succumbed to drug addiction or alcoholism due to his influence.
Those coping mechanisms laid out for me so long ago have carried me through my life, particularly with the strength needed to get through these past few years as my eyes and leg have failed me. I had an inherent but inconstant strength, but my old mentor taught me how to tap into it and provided direction.
A lot of people, including some who do not particularly like me, have been amazed and complimentary in how well I have dealt with the disabilities. I credit that strength to the old mentor. I credit the strength to have stood tall and strong through so many things over so many years to the influence of someone I have not seen since 1987.
At http://www.kozzi.us/LongWay.html,
I have posted an essay published in 2006 by Dana Literary Society Online Journal. This essay dealt with a lot of things that have come up over the past month, including family irregularities and vulgarities and the fact that I am living in a very difficult property to manage and maintain at the best of times. The essay made it clear that I relished the challenges of daily life and the little difficulties that reminded me I was alive. That outlook also came from my mentor, who’d asked pointedly, "You have to have everything the easy way?"That challenge adjusted my attitude and energized my efforts. I don’t give up on this because they prove difficult.
That outlook has been invaluable.