Your Work is Shaped by Story

I am the son of a farmer turned pastor, the grandson of a Louisiana roughneck and the great-grandson of a WWI vet who returned from war to labor on the railroad. Our family story is not often told in words, but in calloused hands and dust-hued skin. We wear ourselves thin for other people but live as though we have never known need. We work because work is good. Action over feeling. Duty over delight. Etc.

For us, love is a practical matter. My grandfather never bought my grandmother flowers; he repaired the roof and put gas in her car. My dad learned to buy flowers and poetic cards, but he spent more time putting gas in her car. I have continued the evolution from practical love to romantic love, but I fall short of Romeo or the vampire boy in Twilight. So, I also spend a lot of time repairing the house and hoping it translates for my wife. ?

My grandfather, Hughes, went from high school to the Army to the oil rigs dotting the Louisiana coastline. After marrying my grandmother, he bought a farm and a service station in Converse, LA. He also delivered propane in that state.?His hands were stained with the soil from which he cultivated life and food.

My father was an activist before activism was trending. He did not call it activism. He called it loving your neighbor. I suppose he would have done better if he had taken a class on marketing. Maybe he would not have wasted so much time quietly loving people and would have racked up more followers and likes. Is a virtuous life virtuous if Instagram doesn't see it?

I've never walked a wooded night to operate railroad switches like my great-grandfather. Life has taken me far from the soil in which my grandfather cultivated food. I rarely hold the hands of people as their life expires - a standard exercise in my father's occupation. Still, their story shapes my story. Their work ethic is engrained in my work ethic the way we share the same hairline. My hands cultivate underdeveloped people and companies. My team is my warrant and I give to their life.

For good and bad, our stories shape us and our work. Know your story, and know how your story shapes the stories of other people.