Making Lemonade

The resiliency of human beings never ceases to amaze me.

Case in point, one Mr. Matt Weinstein. Mr Weinstein came to my attention today through an article in the Toronto Star

Mr. Weinstein is the founder of Playfair Inc., a company that shows organisations to have more fun in the workplace.

Unfortunately, Mr. Weinstein and his wife invested everything they had with the infamous Bernie Madoff . The couple saw their net worth go from seven figures to four in one fell swoop. In the article in The Toronto Star, Mr Weinstein recounts the moment when he learned that his lifes work had been wiped out.

"It was December 11th, 2008. I was on vacation in Antarctica, when I got a page from the icebreaker I was on to go up to the bridge to take a satellite phone call. I started running because these phone calls cost $10 a minute".

On the phone was his wife with the bad news.

"We realized at that point that we were no longer the kind of people who could afford to talk on a satellite phone" he says with a laugh.

Already in demand as a motivational speaker, Mr Weinstein immediately saw the cathartic opportunity in sharing the story of his misfortune.

He has created a new presentation entitled, "What Bernie Madoff Couldn't Steal From Me". He also has a book deal for a new work entitled "Losing Everything".

I, for one, will be buying this book when it is published just because it seems like the right thing to do.

I leave you with the following quote from the article and one of my favourite poems, and while Mr. Weinstein is "speaking a word about his loss", he is using his experience to teach the rest of us. I think Rudyard Kipling would be OK with that.

"Long term happiness is not about your bank account. Asking for support, asking for community....its about the kind of positive relationships you can make".

"We always have our eyes fixed on 'They have more money than me' or 'if only I'd invested this', but thats not what it is all about".

"When all that is gone, there is still a lot left".

amen, good sir

IF.....

IF you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!' If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, ' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch, if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!