People that inspire me - Jim Wise

There are 38 weeks left in the year and once a week I will write about someone in my life that is inspiring or motivating to me.  Hopefully others will read it and gain a little bit of inspiration in their life as well.  There is no particular order to these writings, just a bunch of people I am fortunate enough to know.  So without further ado ….

Inspirational person #13 of 50 – Jim Wise

Jim Wise is my older brother.

Jim in the middle

I have two brothers that are 8 and 9 years older than me so being the youngest was not always easy.  And my older brothers did the normal things to me that siblings would do in terms of picking on me and giving me a hard time but as I grew up Jim started to pick on me less and support me more.  And to this day I don’t have anyone that is as supportive as him.

To be around Jim is to be constantly laughing and entertained.  He has a very outgoing personality and is usually the center of attention whenever we have a family get together.  He can take an everyday, ordinary story and turn it into a standup comedy routine.  He is one of those people you just like to be around because you know something funny or memorable will happen.

Our family has always been into all kinds of motorsports and Jim was no different.  While I was more into the go-kart type racing he was more into motorcycles.  I can remember watching both of my brothers at a young age riding around our farm on their motorbikes and wanting to follow their footsteps in some fashion.  Eventually Jim would drag race Harley Davidson’s and win several races and trophies. 

As I got into high school and more into team sports, Jim would often show up and be one of my biggest fans.  I didn’t tell him at the time but it really meant a lot to see him take time from his busy schedule to travel to one of my games or meets.

At a young age he began working construction and has worked his way up the ranks through his company for the past 30+ years.  He is an extremely hard working and dedicated professional and his fingerprints are on building projects all over state of Ohio and city of Cincinnati.  I imagine when he retires he will have a great sense of pride in all that he has accomplished in his work life.

More about Jim below but first …

I asked Jim seven questions, here are his responses …

Question 1:  What advice I would I give the 15-year-old version of yourself?

Jim: 1) Listen to your parents they know what is best for you! 2) Be careful on who you pick as friends because they can have a big influence on some of the decisions you might chose to make. 3) Do not let people influence you to make bad decisions 4) Stay in school, go to college so you don’t have to work manual labor (Like I have for 30 years).

Question 2:  If money was no option, what would you do for the rest of your life?

Jim:  I would spend the money helping the less fortunate, so they could have a better life. I would also make sure that my mother could go anywhere and have anything that her heart desired even though she could do that on her own. But Hey, I love my mom! I would also provide the money to build the world’s largest dog shelter and pay the staff a good wage to run / operate it. Then my wife and I could then travel the world helping people, and rescuing dogs.

Question 3:  What is your favorite non-work thing to do?

Jim:  After 30 years of hard work my favorite thing to do is take it easy, besides that I like to travel to Florida when I’m off in the winter to spend time with my mother and wonderful family Debbie, Rocky, John and Colton!

Question 4:  If your life was a movie, what would the title be and who would play you?

Jim:  The Wild Adventures of Jimmy Wise. I would pick Evel Knievel to play me.

Question 5:  What one thing would you change about society?

Jim:  I would like to change how society judges people when they don’t know the whole story or have walked in that person’s shoes.

Question 6:  Who inspires you and why?

Jim:  My younger brother John Wise. From a young age, John exceled at anything he did. He started racing go go-karts, and became the Jeff Gordon of go-kart racing winning many races. As you might already know many of the kids he raced against went on to become NASCAR and IndyCar drivers. My Brother went on to win the 1992 400m state championship in the state of Ohio. He then went to Kent State University on a track scholarship where he graduated with a degree in business management. John was also named to the all-Mid-American Conference team as a sprinter in 1997-1998. John also was part of the MAC Championship and the 4x100m relay team. After college John joined the Kent State staff serving under current Shockers coach Steve Rainbolt for five seasons. John later returned to Eastern Brown for three seasons as the head coach and won the Conference Coach of the Year five times in track and twice in cross country. John later moved to Kansas to become a Track coach for the Wichita State Shockers and in 2011, he was promoted to Assistant Director of Track and Field that goes along with his coaching and recruiting roles. My brother is someone who loves what he does for a living. He goes to work every day and does what he loves. John could have any job he chooses, yet he loves coaching and teaching these young adults how to become better athletes and outstanding young adults. Therefore, he inspires me! I’m so proud to call him my brother! When people ask me who he is I love to tell them this story. I’m so proud of you John!

Question 7:  What makes you laugh?

Jim:  Facebook! Funnier than Monty Python and Benny Hill!

Final thoughts … Why is Jim Wise inspirational to me?

I’m realizing it’s impossible to accurately describe Jim on paper.  If you really want to know about Jim, you have to experience being with and around him.

But what I can definitely say with all sincerity is that Jim has one of the biggest hearts a human being was ever given.  You can read some of that above in his answers but something that isn’t mentioned is how he took in our nephew Colton and, along with his wife Debbie, has helped raise him into young adulthood.  This wasn’t something Jim signed up for but it was a responsibility he took as seriously as anything he’s ever done in life.

 

Our nephew Colton is now in college and one of the smartest young people you could ever meet.  While Jim may not have gone to college or earned a master’s degree, he is a graduate of the school of hard knocks and made sure Colton had everything he needed to start a successful life of his own.  I’m not sure I could’ve done the same thing as Jim and Debbie because I’m probably much too selfish with my own life.  We’re all lucky to have people like Jim in our world.

You don’t choose your siblings.  Sometimes your brother or sister is the closest person to you in your life and sometimes it doesn’t work out that way.  I think my relationship with my brother Jimmy has had a little bit of everything and I feel extremely lucky for that.  Life isn’t perfect and neither are all the people in it.  Jim has made mistakes like all of us have, but unlike some people he has never blamed anyone else for his lot in life and has always continued to strive and work hard to make it better for him and the people around him.  Sometimes we are inspired by professional athletes, leaders in the business world or successful academic types but more often than not there are people like my brother Jim who does the real heavy lifting in life so the rest of us can live a little easier.

Thank you Jim for being a great example for Colton and for being the best big brother a little spoiled punk like me could ever have!