Life can be hard without making you hard

Life roughed John up, but it didn’t make him cold. He remembers the hurt, holds tight to the kindness and knows firsthand just how precious another day can be.

Q: What’s your take on Galveston today?

John: Tourism is good for business, but what about regular people? What opportunities do they have to live a better life? Rent, food, the cost of living — it’s higher than it should be.

Q: Paint a picture of your childhood on the island.

John: I got my family values from my friends’ parents. Some of them were just as poor as we were, but there was respect between the children and their mother and father. That was missing in my family.

My father was a hardass. He was very abusive, particularly toward the males. So I spent a lot of time at my friends’ houses, around different families and cultures. I had a lot of people I called my adopted parents.

My father went from making a dollar an hour to taking welding classes and making more money than a doctor. We moved into a nice house. But he never changed the way he treated me. His rule was, “I’m only required by law to put clothes on you, feed you and put a roof over your head.” When you graduated from high school, you were on your own the next day. And he followed through.

Q: What advice do you have for young people today?

John: Learn to respect your elders and other people. And learn to respect yourself. I see kids running around with no respect for anybody, even themselves. Respect yourself and the people around you. I don’t see enough of that today.

Q: You survived a serious accident. How did almost losing your life change the way you live it?

John: It happened in the late ’70s. I should have been decapitated, but I ended up in a coma. I woke up in the hospital seven months later. I learned that God has a plan for you, even when you don’t know what that plan is.

Q: What final words would you like to leave with the world?

John: Treat people right. Enjoy your life. It goes by fast, so appreciate the time you still have.

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