David Plante
Guest Contributor
Go in your closet and find your boots and turn them upside down. If you look at the sole and you see a yellow label in the center that says “VIBRAM,” then you can thank my dad. He was on the engineering team that created the original sole for the company. (On a side note, the soles were like tire treads, and their logo was “Give an ant a chance.”)
Interesting huh? But is that my father’s legacy?
I don’t really know for sure. Maybe it is part of it. Maybe not. I will take the time to explore in this article, and in a perfect world you can do the same, except insert yourself and your father in place of mine. It starts with a question.
What has my father said and done that has lived on after his death?
He had four children. We all appear to be prominent citizens of humanity. We all talk to each other, help out when we can, and care about one another. He should get credit for that.
He was married and divorced five times. He never promoted the concept, and none of his children have come close to that record, so, for the importance of being in relationship he should get credit for. He worked hard all his life, we always had a home, food on the table, clothes to wear, and most of us lived a problem-free life.
Yeah, that’s his to give.
He never put up with any bullshit. If it looked like it, smelled like it, tasted like it, or felt like it, you were going to hear about it whatever the cost. And yes, if you know me, I was infected with that one. My thoughts are this.
As David Deida says in his book The Way of the Superior Man, “Live as if your father were dead.” Be free from all the constraints you invent to prove something to him.
When I did that many years ago, while he was still alive, it changed how I interacted with him for the better. I was not tip-toeing around him anymore. From that place, it is easy to identify and talk about his legacy.
As David Deida says in his book The Way of the Superior Man, “Live as if your father were dead.” Be free from all the constraints you invent to prove something to him. When I did that many years ago, while he was still alive, it changed how I interacted with him for the better. I was not tip-toeing around him anymore.
From that place, it is easy to identify and talk about his legacy.
I hope you can do the same.