Thread by @Codie_Sanchez

9 Lessons learned from my immigrant, gun-toting, multi-time CEO father:

Stan Sanchez.

A man who labored at a slaughterhouse, who built things with his hands until they bled and calloused.

Who cut stone, and led teams, who built businesses and eventually sold them.

Who created his own path.

Here are 9 rules my dad lived by:

#1: Not Armed & Dangerous, Armed Because the World Is Dangerous

He was in the Alaskan wilderness, guiding a hunter 100s of miles from civilization.

A noise broke the silence of the night.

It was a massive bear charging him.

Lesson: Civilize your mind, make savage your body.

#2: Tell the Truth, It's Easier

He was helping to secure financing for a chain of ole country stores, backed by a celebrity, looking to expand.

Then one day he opened the paper and saw the photo of a man he was working with, who turns out was known by the FBI as well.

Many people involved hadn't been as straight-laced as my father, and got in trouble.

He always said, "Tell the truth, the lies are to hard to keep track of."

#3: Just Because It's Popular, Doesn't Mean It Makes Any Damn Sense

My dad was the life of the party, but never drank alcohol.

Many assumed he was an alcoholic; this was back when people didn't just "choose" to be sober.

I asked him one day: "Why don't you drink?"

He said, "Because I don't want to. Life isn't for escaping, it's for living. And if I don't like a person enough to hang out with them without drinking, I'm not sure it makes much sense to drink until they get interesting."

#4: You Can't Teach Desire

"You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink," he said to me giving me a big hug.

I was having a day. One of those days as an entrepreneur where you are pretty sure everything is going to fall apart and it's your fault.

"The truth about people Codie, is that you never really make anyone do anything. They either choose to do it or they do not."

Lesson: Help lead your people, but never drown them.

#5: A Cup of Coffee and Four Chairs

If you walk into my parents house, there is a heart.

It lies beating in the center of the house. It's four chairs adorned in dark swirling fabric all facing one another.

The tv is far away, the radio is too, there is nothing to look at except the faces of our family.

Lesson: Your best moments may be seated right alongside those you love, trying to figure the world out together.

#6: Will You Really Protect Your People?

The night was dark and her face was bloody, swollen, bruised, like an overripe peach.

She came to two she trusted, men who worked with their hands, men who knew how to hunt, and how to protect. She was just looking for shelter.

As her eyes finally hit the pillow in sleep, they went hunting.

The night was set to have a talking to with a man who used fists instead of words.

They "sat" him down in a chair, with a story to tell. An ahem, hypothetical, story of what happens to those who hurt those who can't fight back.

The man was never heard from again.

Cowards hide when the light is shined on them. What they did, most will never do.

#7: Surfing Is Really Just Surrendering

The waves crashed over his head again and again, a relentless onslaught like getting knocked into a corner by a boxer over and over.

He started with a jolt, his hand screaming in pain. He must have lost consciousness for a moment.

And the waves, they keep on coming. He started to panic a little bit.

Then he remembered, surrender.

Finally reaching the shore he lay still.

Two fingers were jammed so deep they looked like dark purple broken carrots.

With a sigh, he bit down hard and with all his might wrenched them out.

Lesson: Surrendering to the current is often the only way to win.

#8: Circles

His family immigrated from a war-torn dictator-led Spain.

They setup shop in a mining town in Arizona where the fumes from the copper sludge created a toxin-filled Northern Lights.

One evening he went out for this evening ritual of lettuce and bunny pets.

Empty cage.

Frantically searching he cried out to his Grandpa. "Where is my bunny?"

"Oh," he said, "He was your meal we just enjoyed." His face nonchalant he moved to his next task.

He wasn't a cruel man, just a man used to living on the land. My father ran out, tears down his small cheeks.

You will always remember your first kill. The first time something has to die to sustain you.

Lesson: The Circle of Life... Some things have to die so others can live.

#9: Chains on Knuckles

He walked home, his head hung low with shame.

A tiny boy with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

He knew he wasn't wanted.

They told him as much.

White vs brown, Smith vs Sanchez.

He walked into his father's house trying to stay quiet and small.

"Why are you home from school so early son? What did you do?"

He relayed the words of a teacher telling him he was Mexican and Mexicans weren't allowed there anymore.

He grabbed his tiny hand in his calloused one, grabbing his hat and an odd set of chains.

As he walked down to the school yard no words were spoken.

He knelt down to the little boy and told him to, "Wait right here."

Then sauntered over to the head of the school, the chains clinking as they wrapped around his hand.

He never heard what words were spoken.

Lesson: Compliance is not always the only option. Bullies respond to strength not rationality.

I had to leave a lot of details out to fit on Twitter, but you can read the full thing here: contrarianthinking.co/lessons-learne…