📅 Thought for today:
‘And how can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his Gods?’
— Thomas Babington Macaulay
#thoughtfortoday #death #friend #love #memories #legacy
A long-time friend of mine died this week. Many of the people I know on both Facebook and LinkedIn will know “of whom I speak” because he knew and influenced a vast swathe of people in British business and beyond.
I first met Mike in 1984, he was an active advocate for the UNIX operating system and I was a young developer in an entrepreneurial business.
Our paths crossed and re-crossed through the years. I last saw him about 4 years ago on the 49th floor of The Shard in London. I was at an event, the speakers had finished and we were “mingling”. There was an event in the space next door and at some point, the partition doors opened and the two events started to mix and mingle.
Mike came barrelling in with a big smile, a laugh, keen to see what was what and who was who. I didn’t spot him at first, but he had spotted me and was making a beeline for me. “Hillston!” he exclaimed and walked up, planted a big kiss on my cheek, put his arm around me and said, “I love you!”
He might have had a sweet sherry or two, but this was not unexpected behaviour. Between those two events, we met many times, including in America during the four years I worked there, and we did some good business together.
Since I first heard from his daughter that he had died, after a battle with cancer for 13 months or more, I have reflected a great deal on our relationship. I will miss him for sure, as will a great many other people (not least his daughters of course).
Mike touched and changed the lives of so many people, and his legacy lives on in the memories we all have of this wonderful man.
RIP Mike Briercliffe, you were loved and revered, and your memory lives on in the stories we tell.
I was planning to use this Albert Pike quote today:
“What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.”
But realise I used it two years ago. It bears repeating today.
