|
Hero
|
Dark with Smoldering Eyes
He was a 25 year-old Scot, she, a 36 year-old American with 2 children. They met when she was traveling alone in Paris; she divorced her husband to marry him.
It was not the Scot's best moment.
Mark Twain described him thusly: "He was most scantily furnished with flesh, his clothes seemed to fall into hollows as if there might be nothing inside but the frame for a sculptor's statue. His long face and lank hair and dark complexion and musing and melancholy expression seemed to fit these details justly and harmoniously, and the altogether of it seemed especially planned to gather the rays of your observation and focalize them upon [his] special distinction and commanding feature, his splendid eyes. They burned with a smoldering rich fire under the penthouse of his brows, and they made him beautiful."
Hoping to win some small measure of acceptance from his new wife's children, the young Scot took them on holiday to his native Scotland. As if in judgement, the weather immediately turned cold and rainy and they were forced to amuse themselves indoors. Seated by the drying fire, the young Scot watched in rapt attention as his 12 year-old stepson, Lloyd, drew, colored, and annotated the map of an imaginary place. Loyd's map stimulated our young Scot's imagination and, "On a chill September morning, by the cheek of a brisk fire, I began to write a story based on Loyd's map as an entertainment for the rest of the family."
Do you remember meeting this "man with the smoldering eyes" so admired by Twain? For it was he that introduced you to young Jim Hawkins, Billy Bones, Captain Flint and Long John Silver and gave you a place called Treasure Island; we speak his name always in its fullness because he gave us fully of all he had to give. "Robert Louis Stevenson."
After giving us his best, he parted, and left us with these few words:
"That man is a success who has lived well,
Laughed often and loved much;
Who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of children;
Who has filled his niche and accomplished his task;
Who leaves the world better than he found it,
Whether by a perfect poem or a rescued soul;
Who never lacked appreciation of the earth's beauty or failed to express it;
Who looked for the best in others and gave the best he had."
Are you looking for the best in others? Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "Every man is entitled to be valued by his best moment."
What will be yours?
~ Roy H. Williams
To view the archives click here.
|
|
|
Invisible Heroes is a collection of more than 100 biographical stories written by Roy H. Williams, the Wizard of Ads. You can read a few of these stories in the archives of this web page, but most of them are inaccessible because they're soon to be published in a book.
We create our heroes from our hopes and dreams. And then they create us in their own image. Heroes raise the bar we jump and hold high the standards we live by. They're the embodiment of all we're striving to be.
Do you want to be notified when Invisible Heroes is published? Give us your email address and we'll send you a note when the book is ready. (We solemnly swear not to let anyone else have your address. We detest spam as much as you do.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
