Saturday, September 27, 2008

Being Paul Newman

Cool. Kind. Faithful. Loving. Entrepreneurial. Fearless. Gifted. Giving. We are blessed that Paul Newman lived such a life among us. He leaves a great legacy. May God bless Joanne Woodward. We are greatful that she shared him with us for so many years.



What kind of legacy do you hope to leave? I want others to say of me that I loved completely and gave freely.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Judith,

What a great tribute and a great question!

I will always remember Paul Newman as his character Fast Eddie Felson in the movies The Hustler and The Color of Money. Not to mention the 250 million plus donated through his Newman's Own Foundation. The consummate professional and a selfless Humanitarian.

A personal legacy...paraphrasing the police officer's objective I read somewhere it would be "He left the people he met and the community he lived in in a better place than where he found them".

Judith Ellis said...

Yes, Dave, Paul Newman was a wonderful human being as well as his wife and children who undoubtedly gave him the strength and encouragement to exist in the world as he did.

I love your personal legacy statement. It is one that speaks to your efforts with SWP2. You will most certainly leave your community better than where you found it. You have had a positive affect on me in the cyber community. Thank you, Dave.

Anonymous said...

Judith...I believe you know the feeling is mutual. I have always known through experience that folks, in spite of their many differences, can unite behind common ideas and purpose and get stuff done.

As for the legacy, I have recently been facilitating a series of "workshops" for managers on employee retention. I am amazed at how many of these folks fail to see how easy it is to leave folks in a better place, a simple hello, word of encouragement, or recognizing one's effort. What does it cost me, a second or two, to make someone feel a bit better about themselves? The return on that minimal investment can be incalculable!

Judith Ellis said...

agree completely, Dave. It doesn't take much to give others a smile or a kind word. But it may be a matter of us feeling, in times of difficulty or stress, that we don't have much to give. So, the effort to give is minimized. We are all basically good and are often in a quandry ourselves. It's not that we don't want to give; we feel like we don't have it to give. On days when I'm not feeling particularly good or feeling less secure, these are the days that I give more.