I hope you and your family are doing well. I have a powerful story to share with you about the impact we can have with the people closest to us.  I hope you will be inspired.

If you’ve ever flown through the Chicago O’Hare airport, there is a statue that commemorates the heroics of the war hero this airport is named after.  Butch O’Hare, was the Navy’s first Ace of World War II, and the first Naval Aviator to win the Congressional Medal of Honor.  What most people don’t know about Butch’s life, is that his father was “Easy Eddie,” the famous lawyer who was able to keep the mobster Al Capone out of jail for a long time.  For his skill at legal maneuvering, Eddie got paid very well. His family occupied a fenced-in mansion covering the size of a Chicago city block.

Easy Eddie did have one soft spot. He had a son that he loved dearly. Eddie tried to teach his son to rise above his own sordid life. He wanted him to be a better man than he was. Yet, with all the wealth and influence, there was two things that Eddie couldn’t give his son. Two things that Eddie sacrificed to the Capone mob that he could not pass on to his beloved son: a good name and a good example. One day, Easy Eddie reached a difficult decision. Offering his son a good name was far more important than all the riches he could lavish on him. So Eddie decided to go to the police and tell the truth about Scar-face Al Capone. He made this decision because he wanted to be a good example for his son. So he testified. Within a year, Easy Eddie’s life ended in a blaze of gunfire on a lonely Chicago street. He had given his son (i.e. Butch O’Hare – the future war hero), the greatest gift he had to offer, at the greatest price he would ever pay.

Sometimes we don’t realize the amount of impact we can make in the lives of the people closest to us. Easy Eddie chose to make the ultimate sacrifice so he could set a good example for his son. You too have the opportunity to make an impact through how you live your life, because you never know if your impact might produce a future war hero like Butch O’Hare.