Fairness and luck

Yesterday, I came across an obituary that sounded quite familiar and yet took me sometime to remember. It was about a ski industry veteran and since I've left the hard-goods side of that business for more than 17 years and am now advancing in age, my memory sometimes gets blurred. After a few moments it finally sunk in. Bill Nicoll, only 53 years had just passed away from a heart attack.

I now remembered clearly when he began to work for the Recreational Buying Specialists buying group; he was very young then and the picture of a good, pleasant man flashed back into my mind. I then began to think, why was it that a young man like him was dealt such bad luck and thought to myself how life is not always fair to everyone.

Those of us who can dodge the bullets, are blessed with fairness and luck in our lives often conclude that we've must been working hard and that we must be also smart, but very, very few ever acknowledge the huge role played by fairness and luck in our personal successes. Bill, in your passing you've again taught us a very important lesson that we should never forget and ought to always be very grateful and humbled by the simple fact that we're fortunate enough to participate in life. Rest in peace.

Bill Nicoll, In It for the Right Reasons from SnowSports Industries America on Vimeo.