YOU DON'T HAVE TO LEAD, AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO FOLLOW: but you must make an effort

By RANDY HESS

This is a story about Sean Severs. Sean is a boy that keeps to himself and has no desire to be 'one of the group.'
Sean gets his first part time job. His new boss becomes a very good first mentor.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Feb 18, 2024
• ISBN: 9781304638991

Book preview

Preface

In society today, so much emphasis is placed on achievement. Competition, beating the others, and winning the race. It’s as if we fail to win, or beat the other ones, we are failures and destined for a life of misery. This short book is a story about a young boy that had good parents and found a great mentor. He was lucky.

Most likely, your parents have instructed and taught you with similar ideals that were taught to them by their parents. Unfortunately, you did not have any input in their teaching. However, there is, or will be a time in your life when you may realize if they had good teachers, or poor ones.

I am not a doctor, or a psychologist. I’m just a middle-class guy with a high school education and a will to learn. I had somewhat of an inquisitive mind at a young age and was fortunate to acquire great mentors. They also saw value in my curiosity and intent drive. They taught me to, above all else be grateful, honest, and do what’s right.

Most of my challenges in this life have not been grey areas, in fact, quite the opposite.

The challenge for me was to do the right thing because it was the right thing, instead of the easiest. It always feels so natural to take the easiest path, but we must do what is right.

From my personal standpoint I would estimate that over

75% of my own decisions about what to do in certain situations were defective.

80% of my career choices were total disasters.

90% of the time I was focused on just my own worries and how things affected me.

However, during all of that:

10% of the time I was optimistic.

20% of the time I listened to friends that I trusted.

30% of the time I listened to people I was told were smart.

40% of the time I was confused …. but…..

….100% of the time I was thankful and extremely grateful for everyone and every situation that kept me growing and changing. I’ve always appreciated the subtle inner voice that has got my attention right before a major disaster in my decision making was about to take place. However, there were times when that internal noise was just enough to drown out that subtle inner voice, and a lesson was learned.

I really believe that our existence is so much larger than what we see, feel and experience.

I believe the concept that every lifetime is a single heartbeat in the larger scale of the universe, and we keep moving from beat to beat. I’m not sure we know when we die, or if we do. We watch others pass through, but they just move a notch over in the life path for their next experience.

I also believe that the pass through is painless. Living is the part that takes effort.

In this publication you will not find much recorded public data, or very many documented statistics. It is made up of a small download of my lifetime personal thoughts and beliefs, as well as concepts. I shared these with my daughter as she was growing up. I developed it into a story to make them easier to understand.

THE JOB

The last bell of the day just rang in Sean Severs’ high school Biology class.

As Sean was leaving the classroom, Mr. Peterson, Sean's Biology teacher motioned for him to come by his desk. Sean wasn’t worried, as he hadn’t done anything wrong in class recently.

However, his grades in Biology have been getting lower and lower this term.

As Sean was standing at Mr. Peterson’s desk, he realized that Mr. Peterson didn’t look upset, but rather neutral, maybe on the edge of having a concerned look.

What’s up? Sean asked in a quiet tone. All the other students had left, and it was just Sean and Mr. Peterson.

Sean, I want to ask you a question.

What? Sean replied.

Sean wasn’t a particularly vocal student and didn’t have a very high ‘social status’ in the realm of his junior class. Not a lot of friends and didn’t really do much other than show up for his classes, He wasn’t the type that participated in sports. He just showed up almost every day, on time, and just kept his grades average.

I just wanted to check in on you and ask if you were doing OK. How are things at home?

They’re OK Sean squeaked out. Why?

You just appear to have some things on your mind, and just wanted to let you know if you ever need to talk about anything let me know.

Sean wasn’t sure how to respond to that statement, so he just shrugged his shoulders.

Mr. Peterson also has known Sean for most of his school life. He was also Sean’s 4th grade teacher and was married to Sean’s 1st grade teacher.

Keeping to himself a lot, Sean lacked the social skills that some of the other students had. He could be called a borderline loner.

His mother was married to her second husband, Sean’s stepdad. He worked at a machine shop in a town about 30 miles away. John Severs was a good person. He also had large amounts of common sense. However, he didn’t have much interest in academics. His dad, Sean’s step grandfather ran an auto repair shop back in the day. Learning a trade, and making money, was the rule in John’s childhood. If you had skills, you could make money. John carries a bit of regret for not implementing a bit more academia in his life, but his common sense tells him he will be OK without it. 

Sean’s mom worked for a real estate agent.

Sean didn’t have any siblings. 

It’s all good, Sean replied and turned on his heels and left.

When Sean got home, he immediately gravitated toward the refrigerator looking for a snack. He found some potato salad from dinner the night before and had a big serving. That filled him up at 3:45 that afternoon. His mom would be home on time and find something to stick in the oven from their freezer.

Mary Severs was a sweetheart. Her academic life wasn’t too deep either as she dropped out of high school to have a child. The child passed away a few days after birth. Years later she married Steve Crane, and they had Sean. When Sean was about 2 years old, Mary and Steve divorced. No story to tell here, they just weren’t for each other. Sean doesn’t see Steve at all, and really doesn’t have any memories. Mary hasn’t seen Steve either for at least 10 years.

John and Mary got married when Sean was 4 years old. John is the only father he has ever known, and he is a good person. Sean took John’s last name as well. John has a few drinks on weekends, and a bit of weed every other night. Mary doesn’t drink or partake in the weed but has constant anxiety. Her and John have a solid loving marriage. John and Sean will occasionally bark at each other but nothing dramatic or catastrophic has ever taken place. 

After his late afternoon meal, Sean collapsed on the sofa and entertained himself by watching clips on Tik Tok.

Mary got home about 5:30 and John right at 6. Mary was out in the garage looking in the freezer when John got home. When Mary walked into the kitchen, she and John hugged and a quick smooch. John went upstairs to take a shower. This was the routine.

Later that night Sean started to wonder why Mr. Peterson checked in on him. Was he looking depressed? Was there a rumor floating around about his parents? ‘Oh well, who cares?’ Sean thought and went to his room for the rest of the night.

The next school day was almost over. The last bell rang, and everyone was leaving. Mr. Peterson again motioned for Sean to see him.

‘What is it now?’ Sean thought.

Yeah, Sean replied to Mr. Peterson.

Do you have a driver’s license Sean? Mr. Peterson asked.

I do, but I don’t have a car, why?

My wife’s brother owns some property just outside of town and is looking for someone to help him take care of things on a part time basis.  He’s got cows, and maybe horses, and a decent amount of land, mostly hay fields. He asked me last weekend if I knew of anyone that I could recommend, and I immediately thought of you.

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