In honor of Father’s Day, I want to share about the amazing contributions my father made to my life, and to our culture. He was a man of many talents, but was best known for his avant-garde films. Even George Lucas has been known to say in numerous interviews that in his heart, what he’d really like to do is make independent films like Scott Bartlett. He most recently mentioned my father last December as he accepted a Lifetime Achievement Award from the San Francisco Museum of Art, despite the fact that Scott died 24 years ago.
When he was alive, values my dad instilled in me through his example were to do everything as well as possible, and to be equally friendly to everybody. Whatever he was working on, he never cut corners, always wanting to create something of exemplary quality, and then always doing a great job cleaning up afterward.
And while he was at it, he’d be acting like the check out clerk or waitress was a potential new friend, who just might have something interesting or useful to say about whatever was on his mind. His outgoing nature made me feel comfortable talking to just about anybody.
What did your father teach you?