Vitality Stories

Jack Beers, promotional photo provided by Holes In My Shoes

Jack Beers

What are we living for?

Holes In My Shoes

I recently watched Holes In My Shoes, a documentary directed by David Wachs, chronicling the life story of 94 year-old, Jack Beers. As lessons tend to go, Jack’s story drove home something I’ve been hearing and writing about a lot lately: whatever you choose to do, put your heart into it.

Jack Beers was born in 1910 and survived the Great Depression, growing up in Lower East Side New York City. He decided to drop out of school because he wanted to help support his parents and siblings. When he told his father, his dad said, “If you’re going to sweep floors, I want you to be the best floor sweeper. Anything you do, be the best at it.”* And so Jack set out to be the best at everything he did.

Jack became a steel worker where he bulked up and started working part-time as a strongman—he could lift a pallet of a dozen men with his back. As a steel worker he helped build the Radio City Music Hall. A self-taught structural engineer, Jack contributed to The Manhattan Project and he helped erect the spire on the Empire State Building. Having a pet wasn’t enough for Jack, he became a trainer and all three of his dogs participated in the Westminster Dog Show in Madison Square Garden IN THE SAME YEAR. He acted in over 200 films, and at 94, he could still tear a phonebook into thirds as demonstrated in the below trailer. His reaction once he accomplishes his feat is priceless:

https://youtu.be/7htqWctyrxk

Jack approached life with enthusiasm, gusto, gumption, and generosity and his happiness is contagious throughout the film. As Lorraine Watson, Follow Your Light, advised in one of my recent posts, “infuse yourself into everything you do” and that’s what Jack did.

And this is how he loved and grieved, too—with all of his heart.

Put your heart into it

Mr. Beers outlived his wife Bertha. After decades of being known as the happiest man in New York City, he sunk into a depression. In his own words in the film,

Life had ended for me… She left a great veil of tears and I was really grief stricken and surprised how suicidal one can become when you lose a loved one.

But instead of ending his life, he decided to impart any wisdom he could by sharing his life lesson in a letter he wrote two months after Bertha passed away. He asked if he could read it on film,

When I was mourning my wife’s departure, I did a lot of thinking, and asked myself many questions. What is it all about? What is the meaning of our lives? What is the real purpose of our struggle and spiritual hunger, our victories and achievements, our sacrifices and our suffering? What are we living for?

I believe you will discover, as I did, that love is what it’s all about. The love of god and man. And when you have found out what it’s all about, you will know that the object of life is not to be smart but wise, not to be rich but generous, not to be a racist or a bigot but tolerant, not to be powerful but loving, not to serve yourself but to serve humanity with courage and charity.

Jack would go on to live until he was 99 years old and in July of 2009 he moved on to his next adventure.

When asked what inspired him to document Jack’s story, David Wachs said,

[Jack’s] commitment and passion for whatever is in front of him at that moment…Jack Beers came from a world where you put your back and passion into things you loved.

And therefore, Jack Beers lived the best life–a life filled with love, wisdom, generosity, tolerance, courage, and in service to humanity.

What I learned

It’s been a few weeks since I watched Holes In My Shoes and I can honestly say I’ve thought about Jack Beers every single day. I’ve thought about him while learning updates from friends who are helping loved ones fight cancer, and while I was in Tokyo for nine days and throwing myself into uncountable new–and sometimes uncomfortable–experiences, I wondered, WWJD? (What would Jack do?)–I tried to approach each day of the trip with his zeal for life.

Jack Beers has taught me that life is what you make it.

Last night I had an inspiring and lesson-filled discussion with David Wachs about some of his philosophies and his work, including Holes In My Shoes, We’re Puppeteers, and his latest project with Mo Bourner–a 16 year-old boy who was a victim of a racist attack, and despite brain surgery, is on a mission to Rap Against Racism. And I was especially thrilled to learn about his new endeavor, A Film for Life, where similar to my goal in ghostwriting memoirs for the elderly, Mr. Wachs is helping people capture their life stories on film.

I look forward to sharing more about my discussion with the talented filmmaker, David Wachs, as well as his answers to the Vitality Stories Interview questions in the very near future.

Special thanks to Mr. Wachs for sharing Jack Beers’s story with us. Holes In My Shoes is truly “an inspirational film for all ages.”

And as always, thank YOU for joining me in a Vitality Stories lesson. I hope each of you will be able to watch Holes In My Shoes. I’ve included links below on how to access this wonderful film. And I’d love to hear your thoughts and takeaways.

Life is what you make it.