One of the fellows called on to speak last night at my meeting was talking about an experience he had on the ferry…

There was a baby, about a year old, rolling around on a blanket on the floor, hair disheveled, mouth smeared with chocolate, diaper drooping and askew, and farting and burping randomly.  And completely and utterly pleasing himself. 

A little while later an old man, about 80+ walked by, in very old, strangely colored clothing, pants too short and very bright, shirt not matching, hair disheveled, farting and burping randomly as he walked by.  Completely and utterly pleasing himself.

And the fellow telling the story was really taken with the fact that at both ends of life, one tends to live completely and utterly pleasing themselves and he asked, “Why did I spend all the years in between worried about pleasing you?”

The room just lost it. Laughter and nods and smiles and sighs.  I think everyone in the room related to that question.  It’s a very good question.  One I didn’t want to forget.

It was a good night.