November 21, 2014
By: Bobby Casey, Managing Director GWP
This week, I said good-bye to a man I’ve known for 40 years. He was a good man with a great heart. A well-respected businessman, father, and community leader. This man was always willing to listen to your problems, fears, and successes as well as lend his own viewpoint when asked – and sometimes even when not asked….
Personally, he was a great example and a lifelong mentor. This man battled cancer off and on for a few years and finally the demon got the best of him. Even on his final day I asked him, “How’s it going today?” His reply, “Oh….pretty good”.
RIP Dad. Your legacy will not be forgotten.
I have been back and forth in my head as to whether or not I should write this tribute to my dad and send to our readers. But as another one of my mentors once told me, “you need to connect personally with your readers and the best way to do that is to share pieces of your life with them”.
So bear with me. This has absolutely nothing to do with offshore business, investments, 2nd passports, or internationalizing your life. This is purely about relationships and life. If that doesn’t appeal to you, now is the time to delete and move on.
I won’t go into depth about my upbringing and life experiences, but as a child, my dad was the kind of father that instead of punishing out of anger when we did wrong – he would sit us down on the couch and have a talk about right and wrong before deciding on punishment. That lesson has stuck with me today as a father of three.
He was a leader. He led by example as a hardworking man who was always good for his word, even if it meant it wasn’t good for him personally. My dad would never ask anyone to do something he wouldn’t do himself. He was not the kind of guy who would do hard manual labor, but he never shied away from grabbing the hammer or shovel if the work needed to get done. He had integrity, something missing in many, many people.
My father was always an entrepreneur: a businessman. Since the day I was born, he was involved in the construction and real estate business. I was never raised to grow up, get a good education, get a good job and retire after 40 years with a gold watch. As early as I can remember, we discussed business. We discussed the importance of creating value. And how being an entrepreneur is hard, but rewarding.
I was familiar with spreadsheets and basic accounting in my teens. I had my own stock trading account when I was 14 and was taught how to analyze financial statements. Money management was a constant topic of discussion. My father raised me to be an independent man. Never relying on anyone for my livelihood. It stuck.
Of course, it was not all roses with dad either. We had some major differences as well. The older I got, the more those differences appeared.
My dad was very religious. You could say he was a “fire & brimstone” Southern Baptist type. He took the bible quite literally and expected his children to do so as well. More so, he expected us to raise our own children in the church.
Much to his chagrin, I became what I like to call an optimistic atheist. Essentially I don’t believe in a master creator. I don’t believe we need an imaginary invisible being in the sky to dictate morality. Morality comes from within and can be simplified into the biblical golden rule, “do unto others what you would have them do unto you” (yes I realize this came from the bible, but it is also found in virtually every other religious and philosophical text ever written). And since no one has legitimately returned from the dead to tell us about the other side, I don’t bother myself too much with the concept of an afterlife.
In business, my dad was staunchly conservative. He went to work at 7:30am every Monday – Friday morning. The exceptions were visits to job-sites (he was in construction) or conferences. Like clockwork, you could expect my dad to have breakfast around 6:30am, dress up in a suit and tie, and head out to the office – because you are not at work unless you are in a suit and at the office.
I on the other hand have wholeheartedly embraced the virtual office lifestyle. My office consists of a laptop, cell phone, notepad and a variety of cloud software tools. My office could be my home in Latvia, a villa in the countryside of Italy, a resort in St. Martin, or my buddy’s living room in Washington, DC. Of course in my father’s working career, this type of work arrangement was not very feasible, but it didn’t stop him from constantly asking me about “going to the office”.
Politically – you could say dad was a far right-wing neocon republican. I am pretty sure there is a Reagan shrine somewhere in his house. He believed in fighting wars overseas to ensure peace back home, limited government spending (except of course for the previously mentioned military), abortion is murder, and that gays shouldn’t be able to marry. Pretty much right down the party lines.
Conversely, I am staunchly anti-political. I would consider myself to be an anarcho-capitalist, or most closely resembling a libertarian. My views are that people should be able to rule themselves and make decisions that best suit their own lives. I don’t believe in voting for a master – whether democrat or republican – as I choose to not be a slave.
Even despite our different viewpoints, we could still sit down and have a good conversation “on the tree stump” – as dad liked to say – talking about life, family, business, politics and even weather (religion eventually became a taboo topic with us since we could not reconcile viewpoints).
His mentorship has taught me several things in life despite our differences.
- In business, just like in life – only quitters fail
- If you believe in something, stick to it and fight for it
- Always be your own man
- Always be a man of your word
- Stubbornness can be a virtue, not just a vice
My dad was a good man who always made his decisions based on what he thought was best. His intent was always positive and he was a good father and a good leader. On Tuesday November 17th, around 10pm eastern standard time, my dad closed his eyes for the last time. He will be missed, but his legacy will live on.
Bobby,
I found this today and wanted to respond to you. I have been wanting to communicate with you but do not have your email address. I enjoyed reading your tribute and agree with your description and perception of Dad. We will all miss him and it seems a little strange not to have him available to talk with or just run things by him. Our childhoods were very different but one thing was constant, Dad. He was the hardworking, dedicated, businessman and father that you described so well. He was very “religious” and very open and opinionated about it. I do believe in some of the things he believed and am sorry that you don’t share at least some of that belief and hope. I have thought about you and your family a lot more since his death and hope that you are all doing well. I wish you the best.
Love Ya!
Robbie
Thanks Rob.
ABOUT RELIGION FOR BOBBY AND THAD……….. Kant did see the church as an important element in the moral development of humanity. Moreover, the church plays a further role for Kant,it offers a response to the problem of MORAL recidivism. As Kant explains even those who have gone through a “change of heart,” still carry their propensity to evil, which can be reactivated through the corrupting influence of other people. Reprising the unsocial sociability of his 1784 “Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Aim,” Kant maintains that “human beings…mutually corrupt each other’s moral disposition and make one another evil”
Most of our SOCIAL institutions promote competition and fuel our self-oriented interests. By contrast, the proper function of the church is to promote the “duty sui generis, not of human beings towards human beings, but of the human race towards itself” It thus offers a counterpoint to our more worldly institutions and their promotion of our unsocial sociability. Through the church, individuals can mutually cooperate in a mutual end, and thus, ideally at least, can help bring people together in a way that does not activate the “malignant inclinations” of jealousy, schadenfreude, addiction to power, or greed.
While the above captures Kant’s positive ecclesiology,and there explains that just as we as individuals invert the proper order of incentives, giving priority to self-interest over morality also he pines for a time when “the pure faith of religion will rule over all” he nevertheless recognizes that that time has not yet come. So, at least for now, the church is needed.
I would say the church is only needed for those that think they need it.
Bobby — It is not often that I get to experience the personal and inner-being of those that I respect in the business part of my life. I had a close relationship with my dad and lost him over 30 years ago and still miss him to this day. I can understand your thoughts about a higher being that you indicate was never reconciled between you and your father. I was at the point in my life once too.
In loving and sensitive sympathy let me correct you about ONE important point when you state, “no one has legitimately returned from the dead to tell us about the other side,” Well there is in fact only ONE person who returned from the dead and He is Jesus. Your father had a hope in Him and is the reason why he was so content right up to the very end of his earthly journey.
Bobby, I will pray that you too will experience the only meaningful legacy that your father would want to leave with you. It is rather ironic that you are guiding us to foreign places for solace and contentment, while your father was guiding you HOME as we are all in fact foreigners ‘passing through’ in this temporary journey
Thad W.
Hahahaha. Thanks for the kind words, but your attempts to “witness” to me are amusing. I have been around religion enough to know the hypocrisy of it all.
Bobby — Your are absolutely right about the hypocrisy of religion. It is the very thing that turns so many people away because of how religious people act outside the church every day of the week but Sunday. My comments were heartfelt and I am not a good enough entertainer or salesman to “witness” to you.
I thank you for taking the time to respond. I am going to be praying for you without your’ awareness that I am even doing it. One day you are going to discover the difference between the religion and the relationship and your life will be changed literally forever. When that momentous event of your existence happens, that will truly be the “Tribute to Your Father” that he would have wanted. That will be the time that life actually starts.
Thad
Thad, I appreciate the sentiment, but I don’t appreciate the arrogant tone of “I am right and you are wrong”. This is typical of many religious (or jesus relationship) type of people. The tone suggests that you smugly have all the answers and will “pray” for me until I find them also. It is exactly this smugness that isolates and alienates people.
The fact that you are even using my tribute letter as a way to make a platform for religion (or jesus relationship) just proves the arrogance. This letter was an honest tribute to my father showing that despite our differences he was a strong mentor and influence in my life and that even when we (as humanity) have differences, we can still learn to respect and appreciate one another.
Well said, Bobby! So very well said!
Many people (overzealous religionists in particular) could stand to be reminded of the 19th century aphorism, often mistakenly attributed to Mark Twain, that “”It AIN’T so much the things we don’t know that get us into trouble — it’s the things we know that just ain’t so.” Twain himself did say, in print, that “Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.”
Like so many other things in life, we each place our bets, but we won’t know whether our bets paid off until after the game ends.
I became a fan of your father’s back in the 70s. It’s gratifying to see you carrying on his legacy. If there is any sense in which he can see you from wherever he is now, I’m sure he can’t be anything but proud of you. In any case, you ARE his “living legacy”, to use Dan Fogelberg’s words.
I had a similarly strained relationship with my own father, for reasons comparable to those you shared. However, my father’s beliefs would not allow him to make any kind of meaningful accommodation for my own. He went to his grave unable to communicate with me other than to “call me to repentance”, as he saw it.
He was a remarkable man in so many other respects. I wish we had been able to “sit down and have a good conversation ‘on the tree stump’ ”, as your dad liked to say. But that became impossible, unfortunately.
It’s ironic to me that people will allow their beliefs about the next life to ruin otherwise good relationships they could have in this one. It’s heartening to see that you and your dad didn’t let that happen to the two of you.
Best to you, Bobby! You’re doing a great job of continuing and expanding the family tradition.
RD
Thanks RD. I doubt you became of fan my my father in the 70’s so I assume you think Doug Casey is my father since he was writing his books then. My father’s name is Robert (or Bob) and worked in construction.
Doug however is alive and well and no relation – although I do consider Doug a friend and a brilliant man as well.
Thank you for sharing your personal story Bobby. Readers do care.
I will keep you and your father in my prayers.
Brian
Thanks Brian
Bobby,
Sorry for your loss. Thanks for sharing your story and I am happy that you had a great relationship with your dad.
I respect and like your views and it is great to see that someone else has similar views as me. Keep up the good work and I am looking forward to future articles
V/R
Fredrik Persson
Thanks Fredrik
What if Life is a dream, and when we die, We wake-up???
Dear Bobby
My deepest sympathies and prayers on this loss. May God bless him, and us all. Amen.
Thanks Zahid
Bobby, I am sorry for your lose. My mother one of 11 kids who grew up in the great depression and who was the greatest influence on my life died last year. I am still grieving. Your father created a legacy that will live through you. The ability to put your thoughts to paper took great courage and emotional strength and ability to give of yourself.
Thanks Steven
Hi Bobby,
My condolences.
I lost my father at the age of 4.
I am sorry for your loss, but at least you got a Father that you could learn life from, and was a good image for you.
All the best.
Knut
Thanks Knut. See you soon.
Hey, friend, sorry for your loss. I can personally attest to the work ethic your father instilled in you. While you developed your own world view that at times may have run counter to that of your father, it is clear that you both had tremendous respect for each other. And despite your political and religious differences, I’m sure he loved you very much.
All the best, amigo. Keep fighting the good fight.
AW
Thanks “Adam” for the kind words. Hope you are well my friend.
Bobby:
Very nice. Mom and Dads are very important in our lifes. My Dad was in in Europe from 1942 until 1946 and then was working 15 to 20 hours a day until they went to California because my mother was so sick and couldn’t handle the cold weather in Chicago. My dad was very important but my Mom was the big influence in my life. I am writing a book so my children will know how my life developed. Not the normal childhood or education or work path.
Your story should influence your children’s lifes .
Hope all is well.
I had brain surgery July 2013 but am doing great. No Cancer. Not traveling out of the country yet..
Good luck.
Morey
Thanks Morey. You definitely have an interesting story. I do enjoy hearing about your life and career path – very interesting indeed. Looking forward to seeing the book. I am happy to hear about your speedy recovery as well.
So sorry for you loss. Your Father sounded like one hell of a Man.
Thanks and yes he was
Hey Kelly, first I’d like to offer my condolences, to you and your family. I would briefly like to say, that I was raised the same as you, and have been a reader, and researcher of many subjects all my life. I spent a fair amount of time, (at one point in life) studying death, and dying. We are here in the physical world, learning what we need to, in what I call “spirit school”, (our personal spirit journeys). Because the essence of our being is spirit, we never truly die. The essence of our spirit is Love, which is the “God mind “within us all. Many religions present God as “out there, or above”, but the great spirit is within us all. Many have embraced atheistic viewpoints (I believe), because of the way”GOD” is presented, or by the way man-made religions indoctrinate us…..I would like to recommend a book, written by a man that spent over thirty years of his life, researching death, and interviewing people that have returned from being clinically dead. This is a MUST READ, and I believe it would give you an enhanced perspective of what Jesus said was “the last enemy”. My personal belief is that he meant the “last illusion”, as the spirit, which is the real you, never dies….. The name of the book is:”VISIONS OF IMMORTALITY” by Ian Currie. Blessings for you and your family, and may your father rest in peace….Thank you for sharing this with us all.
It was my father, not Kelly’s – Bobby
Hugs to you. Thank you for sharing this with us. You have been given a remarkable dad, like I have. And congrats to your dad for his greatest promotion yet.
Thanks Catrise
Sorry for your loss and that is great that you have a dad to be there when you are growing up through the rough spots.
Now the US Government promotes broken homes for profit and it is a multi-billion dollar industry draining the Social Security Trust Fund in order to incentivized social worker and child support collectors to break up two parent homes for profit.
You should read up about this on http://crispe.org
It is great having both parents around and it keeps balance, but the US Gov’t has another agenda of creating people to dependent on the system and not on themselves or their families so dear old dad has to sleep in the cardboard box while the mother and children live in public housing paid for by big daddy gov’t and unreasonably high child support taxes.
Robert,
It was surprising, yet refreshing, to see another “comrad in arms”, as it were, also part of the GWP contingency.
Feel free to contact me if you’re interested to hear about the weekend that Larry Kirkman and the CRISPE bus camped out in my front yard a few years ago.
– Dean “The Banner Guy” Gottschalk
Sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing your story. My father was a southerner and became a Baptist missionary in Japan, where I was born and raised. I have mostly fond memories of my father who instilled compassion and contribution to others. He must be very proud of you and you were both fortunate to have each other. May your future continue to strong and prosperous with your dad’s legacy in your DNA.
Now is time to define your legacy and make your contribution to others. Deep sympathy and best regards, Doug
Thanks Doug