It’s all about the handshake

My oldest grandson, Michael Krieger, wrote in the foreword of my book, “Rag Man, Rag Man,” that I would leave my four grandchildren a legacy of wisdom, not money.

One of the most important pearls of wisdom that I offer is to have a firm handshake, not a dead-fish one. Michael as a baseball pitcher at Boardman High School and Ohio Wesleyan University, made an easy transition from gripping a baseball to throw curves and strikes to offering a firm handshake. I always believe that a firm handshake was a personality transmitter.

As a writer of this column, which has been appearing in The Vindicator for 20 years this month, I have rarely used $64 words, but one of those words I do like is ebullient.

I had never heard that word until I was interviewed by an industrial magazine reporter many years ago, while working at Commercial Intertech as its corporate safety and security director.

After I gave him a firm introductory handshake and an interview, he wrote that I was “ebullient.” The dictionary defines it as “overflowing with enthusiasm.”

As a quality control manager, then a production superintendent at Republic Rubber, I would recommend individuals for positions under my jurisdiction with that firm handshake and ebullient personality. Over the years I have found that those people were willing to give a 100 percent work effort.

A word of caution on the firm hand grip, since some people have steel vice grips. Care must be exercised not to injure the receiver.

Finally, a grandparent is like a fine watch full of good works, encased in solid gold that just keeps on ticking, always with the grandchildren’s best interests a heart. And leaving them a legacy of wisdom.

Michael J. Lacivita is a Youngstown retiree and a member of the Ohio Senior Citizen Hall of Fame and Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame.