Mr. Paul is a dance teacher who, in his spare time, pushes a cart as a male nurse in a BBC soap opera. He pushes this for almost thirty years. For the first ten years he doesn’t open his mouth, as script requires. Then, in 1996, incredibly a joke: “here it is!”, or something like that. Since then he has started again to shut up. He is merely transiting continuously with the cart behind the actors in the foreground. A body floating in the background. His sole mission: to be there without showing himself, and it has worked out fully, so much that the audience of soap opera completely ignores who he is.

Yet Mr. Paul, that the colleagues call Oscar same as his character and the statue that will never win, affirms on British press that he’s a peaceful person. “I like it. On set they pay me and give me to eat for free” he says. And then the actors pass whereas he remains there, the smock and the cart always framed in passing, but the only fixed point for all crew, about which he became the historical memory and the privileged confidant. Without Paul, that bogus world collapses with a crash.

He has understood this and has found a meaning of his adventure.

That’s why Oscar says that life isn’t as it seems, almost never. Because you can be very useful to the world even when the world doesn’t see you as important, if you understand who you are and if you love what you do.

Go on with the good dreams, Connor or anyone on your behalf, and keep your humour alive, if this is authentic. And say goodbye on my behalf to Mr. Rowe.

Sofia, Milano – IT

I’m not as eloquent as Mike or his mom, but I just had to chime in on this one.

Great comments Mike, very simple and true. I would like to add a point that Mike alluded to, but didn’t come straight out and say. To be successful means that you have accomplished something that you set a goal to accomplish. So with that said before you can be successful you need to set goals for yourself that will make you happy. Don’t set goals that you think will make others happy, that part will take care of itself. Generally families and friends are happy if their family members are happy and I’m sure the goals that you would set for yourself will not be trivial.

Second enjoy the journey to accomplish those goals. Enjoy the work, push yourself sometimes beyond what you think you can do, then at the end of it celebrate and think of your next mountain to climb.

Mike’s point was that you are the only one that can truly gauge whether you are successful or not. Success may be making an average income, living in an average home, but having a family that makes you feel more important than any profession or paycheck ever could.

Success is achieving goals; happiness is found in the journey.

Mike, I told you that you would not make it Leatherneck : ). Sorry just had to get that in.

Lynn

You have helped me show my kid not everything is easy and you can have fun working. America has forgot how to work and I am grateful you showed them people still do. I will miss the show greatly, but know you will be successful. I look forward to seeing what’s next for you.

David

Connor, the advice you’ve received, that you’ve shared with us, and Mike has given you, is worth tucking away and reviewing every once in a while. It will help keep you grounded. Good luck to you!

First of all I appreciate the fact that you are asking for advice from an adult. Just the fact that you respect the life experiences and want to learn from an elder (no disrespect Mike)show me that you too will be successful. If you want to see success first hand, right before your eyes, look no further than your parents. I say that because I feel successful when I look around and realize that all my kids are happy and don’t want for anything they really need, my wife and I provide a nice house and home for them, and we’re not burried in debt, and we’re all happy. We’re just regular people like your Mom and Dad. I’m sure Mike felt the same way with his parents growing up, and that was way before they got the paper towell commercials:)!

I think you have come to the right house for advice on important life lessons. Mike began mikeroweWORKS in 2008 building on a foundation of hope and charity for all of us. And that with a clear vision, working hard, and settling in for the long run, you can achieve success in life. I believe in those values too. I also believe in surrounding yourself with like minded, positive, and uplifting people. It is true what they say about picking your friends. You just can’t pick their insides. You can pick yours. And at the end of the day the most valuable life lesson that I’ve learned; If you love someone, let them know. Sincerely, Shannon Marie Conley