An Older Brother's Wisdom by Zachary Fenell

An Older Brother’s Wisdom

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Warning, the following post may cause some sibling rivalry to flare up.  Already I imagine younger brothers and sisters ready to protest the title. “An older brother’s wisdom?” they read in a questionable tone.  “Blasphemy!” they decree before dismissing the read. WAIT! Please entertain me for a few more minutes.

You stayed?! Thank you. I understand emotions can quickly escalate when discussing siblings. So let us all take a deep breath.  Now to journey onwards!

A recent chat with my older brother Bill inspired today’s post. Maybe that makes you wish you could hear our conversation. You can! The dialogue remained a part my efforts to let the world better know those I mention in my cerebral palsy memoir Off Balanced. Therefore you will find the aforementioned discussion at my Youtube channel.

MY Older Brother’s Wisdom

Essentially then I am not referencing just any older brother’s wisdom. Rather to clarify, I am spotlighting MY older brother’s wisdom. Praise I risk going to his head. After all, he always claimed to possess more smarts than our younger brother Nick and me.

Hopefully you read the above sentence as a humorous tease. On a serious note, I am glad to celebrate Bill’s wisdom if the results lead to others adopting his attitude towards people with disabilities. Watch the video and you should instantly recognize what insight I am keeping in mind.

Only the Beginning!

My brothers and I with our father on his birthday in 2006.

At my Youtube channel you will find videos with my father, younger brother Nick, and now my older brother Bill.

Obviously I am bias, but I believe my video with Bill proves compelling to watch for multiple reasons. There stands his attitude towards people with disabilities. An insight I simply allude to vaguely here. Consider my attempt to guarantee you click “Play” on the video.

Additionally, despite my CP Bill calls our brotherly relationship “like any typical set of brothers.” He shares why he would title his potential adolescent memoir The Boring Life. Bill also offers his takeaway from reading Off Balanced.

Perchance Bill’s thoughts on Off Balanced interest you in the read. You can find Off Balanced available on the Kindle and Nook. Or perhaps our video motivates you to hold a similar conversation with your older brother. Return afterwards and comment with how your dialogue went. I am always intrigued by your feedback.

*Disclaimer- Links to Off Balanced ‘s Amazon sale page connects with the Amazon LLC Associate Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

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2 responses on “An Older Brother’s Wisdom

  1. markdeafmcguire

    Great job with the video. I too have an older brother whom we share quite a bit in common with just like you and your brothers. The title of my brother’s book probably won’t be A Boring Life though. I gave him enough hell to make it a little bit interesting.

    However, you are right though, widsom is something that is valued by those who receive it. When it is a family widsom, it does carry additional value simply because it is summed up with a lifetime of knowledge of the person knowing you.

    For example, I am the last of my family generation with roughly a span of 15 years between the oldest and me. I am always amazed to view my older cousins in a different light when they tell me they used to change my diapers. A few of them entered high school by the time I started pre-school. And now, after 40+ years, those members are grandparents and the rest are parents. Again, being the last of them, all their “turns” have fallen like dominoes to me. And we all wonder which leads to conversations where we impart our widsom on each other.

    Hmm…. great topic. You gave me some food for thought. Thanks by the way for captioning the video. It was great to enjoy the full experience.

    1. Zachary Fenell Post author

      Thanks for the feedback Mark. I have one cousin in his 40s (who sadly doesn’t keep in touch with the family) but the rest of us (my brothers/cousins) are in our late 20s/early 30s. You provide a good reminder that the age difference isn’t always so close. By the way you’re welcome for the captioning. I’ve been working hard on getting the rest of my Youtube archives captioned. I recognize the importance to making my content more accessible. By next month all my videos should have CCs.

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