submitted by Valerie Renk; photo by Mike Engelberger
After congratulating 2019 Rotarian scholars, UW Foundation Sr. Director of Development Trent Jackson shared his Principles of Life. Many Rotarians remember Jackson as the sixth all time leading scorer of the UW Badger basketball team.
These principles have helped Jackson through adversity ranging from childhood stuttering to a 2017 hate crime attack. His principles include:
- We’re told to love, not like, your enemies.
- Draw this from deep inside…or from above.
- Have peace in mind and spirit, with your family and at work. Peace is related to integrity and honesty. Make sure to live it.
- Have faith; are you ready for good things to happen?
- If you squeeze compassion, out comes kindness and friendless. Squeeze harder and you’ll find grace, mercy and forgiveness. Jackson coined the term “forgetness” which is important as so many people think they can forgive but not forget and forgetness is possible.
- Wisdom is ROUGH: Reach Out, Up and Get Help!
- What is the why behind what we do? Why did this happen? But we don’t need to understand everything. Love, Obey and Trust (LOT).
- If understand is the what, knowledge is the how. Ask how to get done what you want.
- Jackson has a long list of Ds, both positive and negative. Positive words that begin with D include discipline, determination, drive; he encouraged Rotarians to meditate on those Ds. Negative Ds to avoid include distraction and disunity.
- Finally, have courage to work on all these principles in your life.
If you missed our meeting this week, you can watch the video here.
Rotary Club of Madison, Wisconsin 