If there is one thing I have found to ring true on a pretty consistent basis it’s that if you work your ass off and never give up, things happen. In the past five years I have had some serious adversity and feel as though my wife and I have grown because of it. Some of the crazy things that have happened range from roughly 25 trips to the ER, 3 Lay Offs (between me and my wife), 3 Surgeries, and multiple waste sizes…for me. 🙂 One constant that never seemed to change during the ebb and flow of life was whenever I would reach out to folks to try and connect and offer value to the relationship – it worked. Almost always. The largest connection of my life happened last week, but before I give you the details I need to give you the story before the story.
Roughly 5 months ago I read a book titled “The Instigators” by David Wolman. The book chronicles the A6Y movement in Egypt, that helped start a revolution that eventually overthrew the country’s dictator. The entire revolution was organized through Facebook and one of the organizer’s name was Waleed Rashed. The book was inspirational and I read the entire book in one day. When I had finished it I thought to myself, I would love to meet this person named Waleed and find out more about him, and see what he believes and how he feels for helping changing the world. With this in mind I did what any investigator would do, I hopped on Facebook and began searching.
It did not take long before I had found the A6Y movement and quickly realized that I couldn’t read Arabic. I requested to jointhe group on Facebook anyhow. Soon after I received a private message from Waleed, the same Waleed I had just spent 4.5 hours reading about. The message said something along the lines of “Hi David, I am curious how you heard of us and why you want to join our Facebook group.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I told him the truth. I wrote back and told Waleed that his story had inspired me and his use of Social Media to literally change a country was amazing. I asked him if we could connect more often and keep in touch because I found him to be a real inspiration. He said that would be okay. From there on out Waleed and I have chatted on Facebook probably once or twice every month.
Fast forward to March, 2012.
It was about 10:30pm and I was getting ready for bed. I opened my Facebook to do a final scan before I took 8 hours off and noticed that Waleed had posted a picture of him with Steve Wozniak, Co-Founder of Apple. I was surprised, but not really, earlier in the month Waleed was with the co-founder of Facebook – Eduardo Saverin. I commented on the photo and said “Wow, Steve is a rich man today! (Apple had just hit $500 billion in worth).” Soon after Waleed commented and asked me to sign on to Skype. So, I did.
When I called Waleed he said only one thing “Dave, meet Steve Wozniak.” There in my pajama’s and sitting on my couch I skyped with the person who changed computers and the world as we know it. I managed to stammer off a few words before Steve passed his tablet to his wife to say hello. Then before I knew it our connection got worse (They were both at an engagement in Singapore) and Steve and Waleed disappeared. There on my couch I could not believe that I had just spoken with 2 people who helped change our world. One a political revolutionary, the other a technology innovator and genius.
How does this type of thing happen to a guy in Maine? Easy answer, I stick my hand out a lot. I say hello, a lot. I love people and really enjoy adding value to my relationship with them. When I hear of someone who inspires me I set a laser in my brain to create enough connections to meet them. It is safe to say that last week my laser was on point. In the next few weeks please keep an eye out for more information on Waleed and perhaps an interview with him. One of my favorite quotes from Waleed I relate to very strongly is: “Part Time Waleed, Full-Time Dreamer.”