This is a story of a man who I barely knew but was the one who taught me what happiness truly was. His name was Jim Reising, he wasn’t the brightest man, but he had a heck of a personality. He was 5 feet 3 inches when I met him. Also, he had short gray hair parted to the right. Always wearing his brown leather jacket, which had “We Are Who We Are”, stitched on the back with tan cursive letters. Wearing his beige cargo pants and his black dress shoes.
It all started one afternoon, when Jim was sitting on his porch in his squeaky wooden rocking chair. He was reading his Sunday paper, like he always does, when he noticed a troubled little boy walking along the side of the road kicking a can around. Curiously, he called out to the boy wondering what was bothering him. At first, this boy was startled and panicking and not knowing whether to run away or not. This boy slowly moved closer to respond. Jim asked this boy what was bothering him and wanted to know if he could help. At first, the boy refused to tell Jim what was wrong and left. The next week, the boy came up to Jim and said that he was confused and was constantly getting bullied at school. He told Jim his plan on how he was going to deal with this. Revenge was running through his mind and said that was the only thing that would make him happy. Seeing all those boys who bullied him suffer was what he that the cure was. That boy thought the suffering of others was happiness.
To this Jim said, “Happiness comes from inside you not from your doings.”
The boy was unsure of what to say to that or what that meant. Jim told him to do what he thought was right. The boy went off thinking about what Jim said. At school he was confused because he was ready to take revenge, but was unsure when it came time to actually do it. He went home thinking about what Jim had told him. He was trying to find the true meaning of happiness. He thought that if he hurt the people who hurt him, he would feel better. As he constantly imagines about the bullies’ pain, he realizes that their pain isn’t going to make him happy at all. That boy realized that happiness is getting along with everyone, not having people hate you for what you have done. The next day, he went to school more confident, and he was acting like he knew what he was doing. For this reason, those boys didn’t pick on him because they only picked on the weak and vulnerable. That boy learned what happiness was that day because he got along with everyone.
Today, at this funeral I, Kyle Bringem, want everyone to recognize what Jim Reising taught me and because of that I am here today a new man. One that I think Jim would be proud of. So, for Jim I say one last Farwell, for the man who changed my life.
Authors bio is coming up shortly. 