It’s been said that no one is just one thing. Even Hitler liked dogs. It may seem a simple thought, but it got me to thinking: what am I besides the obvious? What have I done in my life that might seem incongruous or inexplainable to anyone who wasn’t there in the same time frame? Such thoughts gave me pause to realize that no one, at any given moment in their life, is just one thing. This is painfully obvious to every working parent, spouse, etc. in the world. A mom or dad who also has a full time job, is also a spouse, might coach a youth league, holds a union organization office… all of these things are different but done by the single individual. My dad was a lawyer, a judge, a dad, a husband, a boxing coach, a real estate investor, a counselor, an avid sports fan, a cook, a gardener and more.
As I thought about that I realized that the cumulative years of life experience for a single individual far exceed the total number of years they lived. What do I mean? My father was an airman in the U.S. Air Force for three years. Following that he put himself through college and then law school to become a lawyer. During those years of schooling he worked as a claims adjuster for an insurance company. He obviously had thirteen years of schooling before going into the Air Force. He was a lawyer for at least 18 years before becoming a judge, but maintained his license to practice law for the 18 years he sat on the bench. He took up golf after becoming a judge and was a sports fan from the time he was old enough to understand football and basketball until the day he died. He was both a basketball coach and a boxing trainer and, in fact, was a semi-pro boxer himself during his college years. He got married at 27 and was still to the same woman when he died at 70 – so 43 years as a husband. He became a father at 30 and then again at 35 and then again at 42. Once becoming a parent, that never goes away, so we has a father for 40 years of his 70 on this earth. What am I trying to say? All of those things were done in parallel, and when you add up years of experience, in total, my dad’s 70 years on this planet contained…
- 21 years as a student
- 3 years as an airman
- 8 years as a claims adjuster
- 36 years as a lawyer
- 18 years as a judge
- 43 years as a husband
- 40 years as a father
- 6+ years as a youth coach
- 4 years as a semi-pro boxer
- 23 years as a golfer
- 52+ years as an amateur philosopher (something he passed on to me quite unintentionally).
- I forgot to include his 45 years as a Free Mason.
Add it up. That’s 299 years of combined life’s experience in a variety of positions and holding an assortment of titles. Yet some would say, “There’s no way he could do that since he only lived 70 years.” Thinking about my dad’s life gives me pause and makes me consider myself. I’ve always felt quite accomplished but after reviewing his life it made me wonder… am I really as accomplished as I feel like I am?
I spent (roughly) the same 21 years as a student. I spent a total of 8 years as a soldier in the U.S. Army, either as an active duty Military Policeman or in the the National Guard in the light infantry and then as a combat engineer. The three years I spent as an MP could also be considered 3 years of law enforcement experience. I spent another 22 years as a police officer, either active duty or as a reserve officer, and then 15 more with an agency as the training commander, but still an officer. I first became a police instructor when I was 24 years old and that carried through my entire police career. During part of that time, about 13 years now, I’ve been an adjunct instructor for a criminal justice academy in Virginia. For the past 3 years I’ve been the training director for a virtual academy run by my full time employer and have worked as an editorial director for that same employer for 17 years now. I finally “fully retired” from being a sworn officer, either in a reserve or full time capacity when I was 58 but still maintain my certifications as a police instructor. I started writing in junior high school when I was 12 years old and have been a published author since I was 35. With 25 books published that’s an average of one per year (although that’s not reality) and added on top of thousands of articles and essays published online. I’ve been a father since I was 24 years old and that never goes away. I’ve been married twice for a total of 36 years if you count the time I was separated but not yet divorced. I first became a certified scuba diver when I was 24 years old and while I haven’t been diving in quite some time, I still hold the certifications. I worked as an army contractor for four years while still being a reserve police officer, and I worked for about three years as a protective specialist (executive protection/bodyguard) also in that reserve police officer time frame. I spent 11 years as a volunteer firefighter as well, broken up between high school and after I got out of the service. At various times while I was a reserve police officer I worked as a theme park security director, hotel security manager, mall security guard, department store “detective,” and more.
I feel like I still have a lot of time left in me, but one never knows. Still, let me do some math on this 60 years of life I’ve lived. Oh, before I do: I’ve been a Free Mason for 15 years as I write this and I spent four and a half years as a foster kid before being adopted into the Borelli family. Math time:
- 21 years as a student
- 8 years in military service
- 40 years as a police officer
- 35 years as a police instructor
- 48 years as a writer, but only 25 of them as a published author. Which do I add?
- 36 years as a husband
- 36 years as a scuba diver
- 15 years as a Free Mason
- 13 years as an adjunct criminal justice instructor
- 17 years as an editorial director
- 3 years as a training director for a virtual academy
- 3 years as a contract protection specialist
- 4 years as an army contractor
- I’ll give myself 25 years as an amateur philosopher and feel like I’m being arrogant adding that one.
Total years of life’s experience in the variety of titles and positions: 281. That puts me 18 years of experience behind my dad but who had ten extra years of life on me as I prepare this. That next ten years should see me add another 10 as editorial director, 10 as published author, ten as a father… oh, wait. I didn’t include the 36 years I’ve been a father. My total jumps to 317 years.
At the end of the day, I go back to… no one is just one thing and it’s entirely possible to have years of experience that appear to exceed the years lived. What I would encourage each of you to do is look back… consider your life in the same way. Don’t think of your life’s experience as only the number of years that you’ve lived, but the experiences you’ve had; the jobs you’ve held; the positions you’ve fulfilled. (I forgot all about the years I spent as a cigar shop manager and a bar manager. Let’s add another 10 combined for those.) Unless a person doesn’t pay attention, you learn in everything you do so your life’s experience combined with the knowledge you’ve gained and applied – what I refer to as wisdom (the intersection of knowledge and experience) – doesn’t just equal the number of years you’ve lived, but the number of years you’ve experienced.
Hitler liked dogs. No one is just one thing.