You are the Story I Tell: Ace

I truly believe that the greatest gift that you can give to another person is to genuinely let them know that who they are and what they do matters. It has been my goal in 2014 to become a more thoughtful person. A string of deaths to some individuals who positively affected my life led me to conceive this series. As the words to my favorite song go, “And for those who have stood by my side, you are the story I tell.” You are the words and pages to my story.

Over the course of the next several months, I will be writing open letters to those who have positively impacted my story. I’m not going to lie. It is my goal to make you cry, not out of grief or pain but out of the realization that you do truly matter. I am not doing this in order of how important you are to me. For the most part (other than birthdays or other important events), the letters will be done in a random order. I hope you enjoy, and I hope you come away from this with the realization that you are extremely important to me.

Dear Ace,

Even after all these years, it doesn’t feel right calling you Kelly. It’s crazy that we’ve known each other 10 years now. It’s kind of funny. I remember when I started at the ACSB a couple people told me to stay away from you unless you were in a good mood. Your reputation preceded you.

But as we talked, we actually got along pretty well. In fact, we got along well enough that you felt willing to share some of your writing with me. The writing was good. Not good as in “I’d give this an A if one of my students turned it in as a paper.” No, I mean good as in “Holy wow… I’d read a whole book of this.” Ace Hollander was a dynamic character and valiant warrior.

We’ve gotten to know each other pretty well over the years. Sure, some periods were full of more conversations than others, but there have never really been long gaps in conversations. In fact, I’m pretty certain that you are the first online friend with which I ever conversed on the phone, way back when in 2005. If you’ve read any of the letters this series, you know that I spend the vast majority of these letters telling people what I’ve learned from them and how they’ve affected my life. I’ll get to that point in a bit, but there are some things I need to say to you first.

The longer I have gotten to know you, the greater the disconnect has seemed between Ace Hollander (or “Plantation Ace”) and Kelly Monfort. While Ace stood brave and fearless, Kelly has been beset by defeat. This bothers me. It bothers me because there is no Ace without Kelly, and deep inside Kelly rests that warrior spirit that is always present in Ace.

You, my friend, have all the ability in the world. Inside you lies the ability to realize your Personal Legend. I know good writing, and I know bad writing. You can churn out good writing in your sleep. I wish you believed in yourself as much as I believe in you. You’ve put so much into becoming a good father, a good husband, and a good worker that there’s not much left to spend on believing in yourself. The good thing is I still believe in you. I always have.

You have the ability to make people care about what you say. Whether it’s a short story, an epic tale, or a long con about joining the military, people are naturally captivated by your words. That’s natural power. Harness that power and use it to your advantage. That’s a rare gift. People like you can change the world.

Thanks for being my friend all these years. Thanks for helping me believe in me, especially between 2007 and 2008 when I had a lot of growing to do. Thank you for accepting me into the greater ACSB community. If you hadn’t accepted me, who knows how much of a presence I would have ever had online, and who knows how many amazing people I might have missed out on meeting. Always believe in yourself. I know you can succeed. Now go and do it!

For the Trinity,
Jakob