What does it mean?

I don't usually talk about real personal stuff in these videos, but my dad just passed away two weeks ago.

And I felt compelled to, to talk about it and the meaning that I'm taking from it or trying to take from it.

I've always felt that when something tragic or difficult happens in your life, I've always asked myself the question, what do I want this moment to represent? You know, what meaning do I want to take from it?

And while I think, you know, his passing is a little too fresh to take meaning I found sometimes it takes 3, 4, 5, 6 years before you can really get past the hard part, get past the tragedy and take real meaning from it. You know, I've been thinking a lot about it.

And there's a lot of meaning I can take from it.

Maybe it was about how hard he worked. You know, when I was a kid, you know, he had this business, Goldman's luncheonette, in Riverdale, in the Bronx. And for those of you that don't know what a luncheonette is, it's kind of like a smaller diner with not as big a menu. And he just worked so hard in that store to make it work when he ended up losing that business. He managed the luncheonette. And then he was waiting tables, you know, until he was in his 80s. He just always worked. So maybe it's about how hard he worked. Maybe that's the meaning I take from it.

Maybe it's about never complaining. He lost that luncheonette, when I was a kid, because his mother actually stole from him in the business. Never really complained. In his 40s, he got really bad arthritis. And he would come home from work come home from waiting tables, and desperately try to hide the limp that he had. So my mother wouldn't worry about him. And he just kept going and never complained. So maybe the meaning I take from his life is to keep moving and just never complain.

Maybe it was about the fact that for him, it was never about status. It was never about comparison. We always had old, crappy used cars that didn't work very well. We lived in an apartment. It wasn't a beautiful house. He didn't have a high status job. But that was never important to him. He was just happy every day with his family and friends. It was never about status. It was never about envying anyone or looking at what they had compared to what he had. So maybe what I take away from this is not to compare yourself to other people.

Maybe what I take away from this is how strong my mother has been since he passed.

I'm not sure what I take away from it. Maybe it's all those things.

But if you've recently gone through or are going through a hard period in your life, what do you want this moment to represent? What meaning are you going to take from it?