Legendary American actor, Al Pacino, in an interview for Esquire,
said, "We were in New York, filming the burial of Don Corleone. We'd shot
all day. It's six at night and I'm going home. I see Francis Coppola sitting on
the gravestone, and he's crying. Literally bawling. 'Francis,' I say. 'What's
happened? What's the matter?' And he says, 'They won't give me another setup.'
Meaning, they wouldn't let him shoot the scene again. So he's sitting on the
gravestone crying, and I thought, This guy is going to make a movie here.
If he's got that kind of passion, that kind of feeling about one setup--that
was the moment. I could feel it. This guy truly cares. And that's it. That's
the way to live--around people who care."
Yesterday I sat in a large meeting room where the
subject was public education. Several very powerful observations were shared,
but not everyone heard them. Had more people truly understood what was said,
more people would have been engaged and, who knows, something more than talk
might have occurred.
Not everyone cares enough to truly listen and get
involved. At times it seems to me that we are living in a sea of preoccupied,
self-centered people. Their bodies are present, yet their minds are not. And, they
even believe that other people don't notice. What a powerful insult they're
delivering, and they don't even care.
I agree with Al Pacino about being around caring
people. I am going to spend more time with people who truly know how to listen,
love to openly and honestly engage, and have more to share than typical small
talk.
In the very short span of time we call our life, the
most rewarding moments we will ever have are when we are sitting with someone
who truly cares about us, knows how to listen and knows how to point out one of
our faults without hurting our feelings. These special people are truly rare.
Yet, without their help we can easily walk off a cliff without evening seeing
it.
Assuming you want a full and rewarding life, please
never forget that honest feedback is required to get there. Therefore, hold
tight to the truly caring people and allow the rest to slip away.
Dick Warn
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