“Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring, and integrity, they think of you.”

—H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Today’s story is contributed by Robert Dilenschneider.

A late night phone call. To my surprise, Dad took it in the solitude of the basement. In hushed, urgent tones he spoke,

“I’m sorry, I’ve got to do it. I hope you’ll be able to understand.”

Huddled beneath the basement steps, in my secret spot, I could hear the tension in his voice.

Thus begins one of my earliest and most powerful lessons from Dad, a portrait of virtue, and an example of standing one’s ground.

A young Robert and his father, Dil

My father, Sigmund John Dilenschneider, or “Dil” as he was known, was a newspaperman. The son of a middle class weaver, he had worked his way through school, culminating in his graduation from the esteemed Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia.

It was at Wharton, in the midst of the Great Depression in the 1930’s, that he met and married my mom. For a time they were forced to live apart with parents and friends — too poor to afford an apartment together.

But back to that basement call… READ MORE