In our little group we have been sharing our thoughts and experiences throughout the semester. Even though we hardly said "Hi" in the class, I feel that by sharing our inner thoughts, feeling and experiences we have formed a special friendship in this cyberspace. Today, I will share some more personal thoughts with you.
Yesterday four of our immediate family members and I spent a very long day in a hospital waiting room. We had both my brother-in-law Don and his son Alex in the same surgery room for about fifteen hours. It was a day of extreme stress and extreme emotions. At the end, both surgeries went well and, hopefully, both of them will recover.
About a year ago Don was diagnosed with liver cancer. Many months of ups and downs with getting on the waiting list for a liver, getting off the list, being x-rayed and scanned over and over, it started looking like he was running out of time to wait for somebody elses liver. Then, Alex volunteered to give his father part of his liver, as they were a good match.
Alex is twenty six years old. After he graduated from U.C. Berkeley he started Law school, and at the end of his first year he dropped out. He was the only one ever to drop out of any school in the whole family. We thought he partied too much, did not have the right attitude, etc. Some of us were embarrassed to tell our friends about his "failure." To our surprise, Alex got himself a job at Google within a short time. To our surprise, he loved his job and he was very excited to do what he was doing. He was working on the bus to work and staying late at work, and he worked on weekends. He could not stop talking about his team and teammates. We began calling him the "Google Man." The Google Man was recently sent to South America to train Google employees there. From all we can see and tell, he is an exemplary Google employee and with all the enthusiasm he has for his job we think he has a good future there.
Nobody asked Alex to volunteer his liver for his father and his father was surprised by the offer. It was a very tough call for Alex to make the offer, and a tougher call for his father to accept it. First thing Alex did when he woke up was to ask "How is Dad?" He wanted to be put on a wheelchair and go see his father as soon as his father came out of the surgery.
I said something in the last class about how we get tested occasionally about our values. I have always taken pride for being a very honest person, but it did take me a hole day of internal deliberation whether I should return the check that the cashier put into the bag. At the end, I returned the check and felt good about it. I had just walked the walk. It is a simple but good reference point for me to think about if and when a similar situation arises, as I have already taken the test and I know the right answer.
I told Alex that he is a brave man and we all appreciated what he was doing for his father. I thanked him from the bottom of my heart. He loved his Father, and he walked the walk. He took the test and passed it. He now knows the answer. He is my "leader of the year."
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