Finding Meaning on Main Street

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My wife's grandfather passed away in the fall. He was a good man, but you probably would not have noticed him, even if you, too, had spent most of your life in a small Illinois farming town like he had. He died fortunate enough to have lived on this earth for 90 years -- long enough to have outlived most of his friends and have a relatively small funeral.
There will be no biographies written about him. To my knowledge, he never did anything heroic -- never fought in a war or saved anyone's life. However, I think there is something we can learn from Grandpa Glen.
You see, when I left Baylor, I knew exactly what I was going to do. Just two weeks after I graduated in 1986, I was on my way to start Naval Aviation Officers' Candidate School and flight school to follow. After becoming an ace naval flight officer, I was certain I was going to set the world (if not my hair) on fire. This world was going to be different because Eric Roberson lived in it.
Well, five years, Operation Desert Shield, 150 carrier landings and one wife later, we returned to Baylor so I could attend law school. But once I completed law school, I had to do something I had avoided with all my heart: grow up and settle down.
Now 10 years, one mortgage and four children after starting law school, I sit here wondering what exactly it is that I am supposed to do that will make the world different. That is where Grandpa Glen and Baylor University come into the story.
I have decided there is an incredible value to knowing who you are, knowing the source of your values and living life every day based on those values. I am convinced that wherever God has placed a person, he or she can live a life of worth. 
I know there never will be any great movies about living a life simply and well. Indeed, I never have gone to a play where the hero seeks revenge by living well. However, for most of us, we have to learn the value of living well on Main Street, not on Hollywood Boulevard or Madison Avenue.
In the aftermath of the recent corporate scandals at Enron, Worldcom and Adelphia, the media are talking about corporate responsibility. I wonder whether the conversation should be focused on personal responsibility. 
I remember the first time a client asked me to destroy evidence. I am glad the idea of actually doing it never crossed my mind. It also was a comfort to know I was working for a firm that would back me up. 
I used to wonder exactly how a Christian lawyer, accountant, teacher or university acted differently from a "non-Christian" professional or institution. In James 4:13-17, James speaks of merchants traveling in search of profits and says they were sinning, not because they were motivated by profit, but because they had not placed God within their business plans.
So, although I have not found a cure for cancer, become a millionaire or been elected to public office, I have found a truth that has given my life a deep sense of meaning. As long as I try my best to place God within my plans and live a life of value, no matter how simple, I am living successfully. I hope that Grandpa Glen and Judge Baylor would agree.
 

Roberson, BA '86, JD '95, received his undergraduate degree in foreign service and graduated cum laude from law school with a civil litigation concentration. Until August 2002, he owned a legal training company. He now is a trial attorney in Dallas.