West Newsmagazine 3-21-18

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March 21, 2018
WEST NEWSMAGAZINE
I OPINION I 3
RANDOM THOUGHTS
A Community Conversation
This week, West Newsmagazine talks
with motivational speaker John O’Leary,
host of the Live Inspired podcast and bestselling
author of “On Fire: The 7 Choices
to Ignite a Radically Inspired Life.” When
O’Leary was 9 years old, he was given
a 1-percent chance of survival after 100
percent of his body was burned in an
explosive house fire. That was in 1987.
Today, O’Leary travels the globe, speaking
to hundreds of thousands of people and
inspires clients that include the St. Louis
Cardinals and more.
What’s the funniest thing you’ve seen a
kid do?
For me, one of the stories I like to share
about my own children ... [happened] after
picking my son Patrick up from school. He
was only a preschooler, so he was a young,
little guy, maybe around 4 years old. So,
on the way home, on the highway, I hear
the horrible sound of a child throwing up
in the back of the car. I know it’s Patrick,
and I know his two siblings are next to
him, and the sound just keeps coming and
coming and coming. Then, it stops. I look
in the mirror and see Patrick’s face … and
[he] just wipes his mouth and looks in the
mirror and says, “Don’t worry, Dad, I got it
all in your briefcase.”
What pets did you have while growing up?
It’s funny because my mom was not an
animal lover as we were growing up. We
were lucky enough to get a golden retriever
when I was around 4 years old. That was
awesome. Then, one of my sisters found
a cat that was looking for a new someone,
and somehow we convinced our mother to
let us take the cat in. This cat, around three
weeks later, had kittens. So, at one point
we had a dog, a cat and I think eight kittens
in our basement. We also had a gerbil and
two pet birds for a while. So, the point is,
my mother was not wild about animals, but
she adored her children, and kept saying
“yes,” because she was more like St. Francis
than a mother. … It’s a credit to her. We
didn’t realize how great that was as kids,
but looking back on it, to do the things you
know your kids want rather than what you
feel like you need, that’s really generous.
Have you ever saved someone’s life?
That’s heavy. Of course, I’ve been told
so, and for readers, this might need a little
context. When I was a child, I was burned
John O’Leary
severely. I should have died, but ended up
surviving through many remarkable events
taking place sequentially. Now, as an adult,
I’m a father of four and a husband, and I
travel the world as a speaker, an author and
a podcast host.
For me, my favorite of all the stories
we’ve heard ... was a gentleman who read
my book “On Fire” and brought it into his
daughter’s emergency room after she tried
to take her own life and gave it to her. So,
this girl is going through recovery ... [and]
ends up reading “On Fire.” As she got to
the end of it, she told her father, “Dad, I
used to want to die, but after reading this
book, now I realize that it’s life I want. I
want to live and live more fully.”
When [I] hear stories like this, it reminds
me why I do the work I do, why I wake up
early, why I stay up late, why I catch these
red-eye flights to get where we need to go.
It’s not about us. It’s ultimately about what
our message can be for those in the community,
and those people we might never
even meet face-to-face.
What would be the best thing you could
reasonably expect to find in a cave?
My wife and four kids would be the
best thing I’d like to find in a cave. I work
hard, and I work not for glory or income
or status. I work to, like, by life, make this
place and world a little bit better generally,
but specifically for my wife and four kids.
So, if I could stumble into a cave and find
them, that would be more than I could reasonably
expect and that’s all I would need.
[Editor’s note: For more of our conversation
with John, visit westnewsmagazine.com.]
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