WHITTIER LOCAL | BRUCE
If you've ever parked at the garage on Bright across from LF, chances are you've met Bruce. The true Whittier Local Fixture, he's known around Uptown for dishing out daily smiles and dashes of wisdom. We noticed that he was gone for a while and missed seeing him, turned out he had left to undergo emergency surgery for a brain aneurysm. Thankfully everything turned out great and we're happy to report that Bruce is back and better than ever. Here's a bit of Bruce's take on life, as told in his own words | Pictures by Bethany Gilbertson
“I have my faith and I look at everything and I try to see the good in something. We can be critical and analytical and evaluating all the things that are wrong. I would rather see the things that are right and encourage those things. Because all of us have, with everything we do, we all have a value. I don’t have the best of everything but I’m very thankful for what I do have and I’m very grateful."
“If we all had a world of doing good and loving each other, what would this world really be like? Because if you love someone you’re gonna try to help them.”
“You know the beauty salon across the street? I said, you know, you people are very important. Do You know the product that you produce we have to look at it all day? Do you realize that? The people you cut their hair, we have to look at it. It’s very important, your job is very important to people. If that person gets a bad haircut from you they look in the mirror and go ‘oh that’s terrible.’ But the rest of the world, the rest of the day, people have to look at that. Do you realize how important your job is for the rest of us?”
“This isn’t the first time I’ve been close to death. I’ve had three other close calls. But this was a managed close call where I was not in an emergency. I knew that there was this possibility going into this surgery that i wouldn’t wake up because it was such a risky surgery. So if anything I received confirmation. I always used to say to people that life is just precious. J Paul Getty died a multi millionaire and he couldn’t buy any time. So time is not money. Time is just precious. Doesn't matter how much money we have…money cannot buy more time.”
“I’m going to try to do more than what I was doing before, try to meet more people and to encourage more people, and we can all do that. It doesn’t cost you more time, it just costs you opening your mouth.”
“Keep shaking hands with people. Strangers become acquaintances. Acquaintances can become friends. That’s the most important thing I feel, the more people we get to know, the more we understand, the more we can help each other out.”
LF -- Thank you, Bruce.