The Old Man's Words

Words are powerful.  This should be obvious from the title of my page, but a few times during my life, a person has said a few words, and it made such a profound impact on me that I not only remember it to this day, but try to shape my life according to those very words.

The man’s name was Norwood Veatch.  Not to be confused with his son of the same name.  At the time I knew him, Norwood was a man of considerable financial means.  He had made several fortunes in property and industry.  I never asked him what the numbers were, and he didn’t offer.  Based on his surroundings, though, Norwood’s money was set to outlive him by decades.  He was paying for 2 customized apartments in an exclusive long-term care facility, and had paid to have the wall removed between the two.

The old man sat in a scooter chair most of the day, entertaining himself by trading stocks on the Internet, which was still an uncommon practice in the late 90s.  He told me he did it for fun, and to give himself something on which to focus, so he didn’t get depressed.  He lived with his wife Frances, who loved him dearly.  He had three or four grown children, but in the four years I knew him, I had met only two of them.  They didn’t visit much.

“There is an ocean of money out there to be made,” he told me one day.

I was skeptical, since my ocean at that time would have fit in a thimble.

“The problem is, it takes time to make it.  Time is what you don’t have.”

Okay, I was following him so far.  I wasn’t sure if I was going to listen to a pep talk or the musings of a sad old man.  He then told me a little about how he had built his fortune, probably at the expense of other things.  His children bothered him, he didn’t know whether to be proud of them or disown them, but he expressed that he wished he had spent more time teaching them the value of character (If any of them ever read this, I am sorry if these words sting, but he blamed himself more than you).   I couldn’t figure out where he was going with it, so I asked him what he would change.

“When you are sitting in this chair, there is one thing left, and only one thing.  Your money can run out, or your family can just stop coming around.  The things you have done, and the experiences you have had, that’s all that’s left.  Get as much of that as you can.”

Norwood died a few months later.  His wife died peacefully not even a week afterwards.    The magnitude of his words is still immense – life is about the experience.  Go to new places, even if it’s just a walk around the block.  Try new foods, strange hobbies, and smell the flowers.  Take the time to listen to what others have experienced. 

That was a five minute conversation over a decade ago from a man I barely knew.  Words…the right words...are power.