If you listen open mindedly to what people tell you about yourself, perhaps you will become a better person -- unless it is too late.

I was a softball-fastball umpire for well over 50 years and must have "umped" thousands of games. But when I attend a sports banquet, many old former ball players will come up to me and say: " Remember me? You threw me out of six different ball games."

After five or six similar occurrences, you find yourself wishing that at least one old sport would come up and say, "You were the best ump in the whole association."

This never happens.

When I attend a banquet or dinner meeting of old Otis Elevator veterans, no old machine operator comes up to me and says: "You were the best tool grinder in the tool room. Your fine tool-grinding made my work easier and I made good bonus money because of that."

Instead, they say things like: "I watched you set your tool grinding machine at it's slowest automatic speed and let the grinder do the work while you read the morning paper or did crossword puzzles by delving into the open drawer of your tool cupboard."

Those old Otis vets and now ancient ball players should, at last, realize that while "umping" thousand of ball games for that sport, I meanwhile sharpened a ton of precision machine tools for the war effort and I still managed to keep both jobs going.

It is especially hard to pat yourself on the back when you are well into your 90s, but I managed pretty well, eh?

Ted Wilcox is a lifetime Hamiltonian with a passion for sports, community and, most of all, family.