Two Great Stories

 
 
I think you might enjoy these two great stories.
 

STORY NUMBER ONE:
 
Many years ago, Al Capone virtually owned Chicago. Capone wasn’t famous for anything heroic. He was notorious for enmeshing the windy city in everything from bootlegged booze and prostitution to murder.
 
Capone had a lawyer nicknamed "Easy Eddie." He was his lawyer for a good reason. Eddie was very good! In fact, Eddie’s skill at legal maneuvering kept Big Al out of jail for a long time. To show his appreciation, Capone paid him very well. Not only was the money big, but also Eddie got special dividends. For instance, he and his family occupied a fenced-in mansion with live-in help and all of the conveniences of the day. The estate was so large that it filled an entire Chicago City block. Eddie lived the high life of the Chicago mob and gave little consideration to the atrocity that went on around him.
 
Eddie did have one soft spot, however. He had a son that he loved dearly. Eddie saw to it that his young son had the best of everything; clothes, cars, and a good education. Nothing was withheld. Price was no object. Despite his involvement with organized crime, Eddie even tried to teach him right from wrong.
 
Eddie wanted his son to be a better man than he was. Yet, with all his wealth and influence, there were two things he couldn’t give his son; he couldn’t pass on a good name and a good example.
 
One day, Easy Eddie reached a difficult decision. Easy Eddie wanted to rectify wrongs he had done. He decided he would go to the authorities and tell the truth about Al "Scarface" Capone, clean up his tarnished name and offer his son some semblance of integrity. To do this, he would have to testify against The Mob, and he knew the cost would be great, but he testified.
 
Within the year, Easy Eddie’s life ended in a blaze of gunfire on a lonely Chicago Street. But in his eyes, he had given his son the greatest gift he had to offer; at the greatest price he would ever pay. Police removed from his pockets a rosary, a crucifix, a religious medallion, and a poem clipped from a magazine.
 
The poem read:

Life’s clock is wound but once
and no man hath the power
to know where the hands
will stop
at late or early hour.
To lose one’s wealth is sad, indeed.
To lose one’s health is more.
To lose one’s soul is such a loss,
that no man can restore.
Today, only is our own.
So live, love and toil with a will.
Place no faith in tommorrow,
for the clock may soon be still.

No man knowth the hour.
 

STORY NUMBER TWO:
 
World War II produced many heroes. One such man was Lieutenant Commander Butch O’Hare. He was a fighter pilot assigned to the aircraft carrier Lexington in the South Pacific.
 
One day his entire squadron was sent on a mission. After he was airborne, he looked at his fuel gauge and realized that someone had forgotten to top off his fuel tank. He would not have enough fuel to complete his mission and get back to his ship. His flight leader told him to return to the carrier. Reluctantly, he dropped out of formation and headed back to the fleet.
 
As he was returning to the mother ship he saw something that turned his blood cold, a squadron of Japanese bombers were speeding their way toward the American fleet.
 
The American fighters were gone on a sortie, and the fleet was all but defenseless. He couldn’t reach his squadron and bring them back in time to save the fleet. Nor could he warn the fleet of the approaching danger.
 
There was only one thing to do. He must somehow divert the Japanese. Laying aside all thoughts of personal safety, he dove into the formation of Japanese aircraft. Wing-mounted 50 caliber’s blazed as he charged in, attacking one surprised enemy aircraft and then another. Butch wove in and out of the now broken formation and fired at as many aircraft as possible until all his ammunition was finally spent. Undaunted, he continued the assault. He dove at the bombers, trying to clip a wing or tail in hopes of damaging as many enemy aircraft as possible and rendering them unfit to fly.  Finally, the exasperated Japanese squadron turned off in another direction.
 
Deeply relieved, Butch O’Hare and his tattered fighter limped back to the carrier. Upon arrival, he reported in and related the event surrounding his return. The film from the gun-camera mounted on his aircraft told the tale. It showed the extent of Butch’s daring attempt to protect his fleet.  He had in fact destroyed five enemy aircraft.
 
This took place on February 20, 1942, and for that action Butch became the Navy’s first Ace of W.W.II, and the first Naval Aviator to win the Congressional Medal of Honor. A year later Butch was killed in aerial combat at the age of 29. His hometown would not allow the memory of this WW II hero to fade. Today, O’Hare Airport in Chicago is named in tribute to the courage of this great man.
 
So the next time you find yourself at O’Hare International, give some thought to visiting Butch’s Memorial displaying his statue and his Medal of Honor. It’s located between Terminals 1 and 2.
 
I know what you’re thinking.
 
What do these two stories have to do with one another?
 
Well, you see …
 
Butch O’Hare was Easy Eddie’s son.

 
 
(Too good to be true? Did you doubt, as I did? … Click here for verification.)
 

My heart is continually lifted by stories such as these. Though my name will never be known as these two, nor my accomplishments and failures known either; I recognize greatness exists in all of us.
 
The wealthy International CEO, the working mother struggling to raise two children on her own, each accomplishes greatness and yet, possess self-doubt.
 
It is not only the physical accoutrements and trappings of wealth that demonstrate “accomplishment.” It is not the annual income that measures worth. It is intent and the day-to-day striving for the goal. Each day, we rise and dream and do something to move us towards that dream. 
 
Usually we just need to step aside and let our greatness surface.
 
The wealthy International CEO, the working mother, and all the rest of us … each expresses that greatness differently but it is, none-the-less, equal greatness.
 
It is necessary that Iremember this when I am “overcome” by my “troubles,” my difficulties. It is the day-to-day striving I must maintain … it keeps my troubles in perspective, and everything else in balance.
 

"Each person has inside a basic decency and goodness.  If he listens to it and acts on it, he is giving a great deal of what it is the world needs most.  It is not complicated but it takes courage.  It takes courage for a person to listen to his own goodness and act on it."   (Pablo Casals.)
 
“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather we have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”   (Aristotle)

 
And that’s one man’s opinion
 
God bless,
 
Nunzio

 
6773