History is filled with hero’s journeys about individuals who used the heat of horrific suffering to forge steely determination to transform pain into immense forward progress. In fact, every powerful life story rests on the foundation of discomfort, setbacks and distress.

The years beyond seventy can offer the richest canvas for meaning; a time when ambition is no longer mistaken for purpose, when the frantic need to prove oneself yields to the more generous desire to understand.

My father, “The Real” Scott Westerman was born 100 years ago today. I often wish I could ask his opinion about the world we are living in. I expect he would say what he always said. “Do good things anyway.”

Remember the old saying. “Live each day as if it’s your last?” Let’s flip the script.Live each day as if it were your first.

Friendship across the divide isn’t weakness. It’s wisdom. It’s choosing grace over judgment and connection over certainty.

Each Father’s Day, I find myself revisiting the lessons my father, “The Real Scott Westerman,” shared. Here are a few…