You sit at the bar and watch the man at the other end. He is old. He drinks slowly. He does not look at anyone when he lifts the glass. He just drinks and thinks and waits.
There is a way a man looks when he has lived his life the right way. There is another way a man looks when he has not. You can tell the difference if you watch long enough.
The bartender knows. He has seen both kinds. He has poured drinks for men who laugh at nothing, who stare at the mirror behind the bar and see something there that they do not like. And he has poured drinks for men who sit easy in their chairs, who have stories they do not need to tell because they have lived them, and that is enough.
It is not the mistakes that sour a man. It is the things he never did. The things he was afraid to do. The times he could have spoken but stayed quiet. The times he could have gone but stayed home.
A man should go too far at least once in his life. He should stand on the edge of something high and look down. He should take a job he is not sure he can do. He should kiss the girl he thinks he has no chance with. He should bet on himself when the odds are poor. He should take the long way home, just to see where the road goes.
A man should make mistakes, but they should be the right kind. Not the kind that come from doing nothing. The kind that come from trying too hard, from wanting too much, from believing that life is meant to be something more than safe and small.
And if he is lucky, he will sit at a bar one day, old but not bitter. He will drink slowly, and he will not need to stare at the mirror. Because he will know how tall he was.
Join us in making the world a better place – you’ll be glad that you did. Cheers friends.