I posed the question.“Bill,do you have MS or something like that?”I asked.“I have cerebral palsy,”he answered matter-of-factly.I think he knew I was nervous talking about it.“But...what does that mean?How did you get it?Will it get worse?”“The doctor’s forceps damaged my brain at my birth.My condition will never get any worse.But it won’t get any better,either.It doesn’t stop me from accomplishing whatever I set my mind to.”Bill’s optimism amazed me,especially in contrast to my own tendency toward pessimism.He gave credits to his parents,who taught him a strong faith.They fought to get him into public school;after he graduated,his father told him,“Get a job.”He wasn’t being harsh.It’s just that they’d never coddled Bill;instead,they had always insisted he could do anything he set his mind to and they never let him give up.Bill got an interview with Watkins Incorporated,a company whose salesmen peddle home remedies and spices door to door.Bill told the director,“Selling is in my blood.It almost doesn’t matter what the product is,as long as I believe in it.Give me a chance and you’ll see.”
The director gave Bill a job on a trial basis.He knocked on door after door and heard no after no.Then Bill started making sales.He walked his route eight hours a day,or more,and became the company’s top salesman in the entire Northwest.It wasn’t easy.Every morning,Bill’s alarm went off at 4:45 a.m.His bus downtown left at 7:20 a.m.Bill needed all that time because he doesn’t like to dress in a rush.“Appearance is essential,”he said.Each morning he put on clean socks,pressed trousers and fresh white shirt.He would leave his cuffs unbuttoned,his wingtips loosely tied,and his tie in the briefcase.Some friends at a hotel near where he made a bus transfer attended to those loose ends.Bill would hit the streets,knocking on every single door,telling himself,“The next customer will say yes.”The key is,Bill believes they’ll all say yes eventually.I kept working for Bill even after I had a few more children.John was making more money,but I continued to scrimp and save.Honestly,it had become a compulsion