YOUR SIX WORD BIO. Pts. 1-3

While searching for an interesting way to instruct my college writing class about the concept of writing a biographical sketch, I found this idea:

Write a biography in six words.

When asked to do this, Pulitzer Prize winner Ernest Hemingway wrote this poignant bio:

“For sale. Baby shoes. Never used.”

Imagine the sad story behind those words.

AS I thought about this concept, I wondered if we could find any six word biographies of people in the Bible. What I discovered was astonishing. Many of our scriptural heroes have already been described in that fashion.

For example, David, of whom God said,

“A man after my own heart.” (1 Samuel 13:14)

Or Paul’s self-description:

“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 1:1)

Or Paul’s description of Timothy:

“My true son in the faith.” (1 Timothy 1:2)

And consider these words about Mary, the mother of Jesus:

“The virgin shall be with child.” (Matthew 1:23)

And about Jesus:

“He became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14)

(Well, 7 words, but “7” is the perfect number, and God knows, He was perfect, and we’ll allow Him an additional word. William McDonald).

This exercise in describing people of faith so precisely should cause us to wonder:

“What six word description would best describe me?” Would it be positive or negative? Would it be “Not an easy person to love” or “A shining light for the Lord?”

What would your bio say?

(Dave Branon, “Our Daily Bread,” March 2012)

Pt. 2

While I have served in the capacity of a pastoral counselor for twenty-five years, and once had the privilege of serving as a university professor for half a decade, I have never been exposed to the previous exercise; (though I have asked my clients and students to write a much more lengthy personal biography entitled, “Who I Am” and a subsequent assignment, “Who I Intend to Be.”)

However, after reading Mr. Branon’s devotional, it occurs to me that not only is the six word bio a wonderful assignment, but that a subsequent, symmetrical approach would be to ask a trusted friend or relative to write an equally succinct and honest bio …about you or me, and to do it without the benefit of reading the one you or I have written about ourselves.

Funny, as quickly as I read the previous devotional my own personal six word bio just popped into my head.

“He is a man of Impact.”

And I like to think that those who know me well would write something similar about me. (I can tell you, there is nothing I would prefer having written about me than the foregoing).

And it is only as I finished writing the last sentence that I made the decision to request that a few of my previous students, clients and interns write their own six word version of who I am. (I can tell you, it would be disappointing if they wrote something negative, but I suppose I would have to ‘own’ the possibility before ever giving such an assignment).

But imagine, if you or I took on the task of writing our six word biography, and asked our friends or relatives to write another which they feel characterizes us, and if either of the bio’s elicited a negative characterization of ourselves that we begin to

…do something about it.

(William McDonald, PhD)

Pt. 3

It’s often cited as one of the great ironies of history that Alfred Nobel, the man famous for creating the Nobel Peace Prize, was also an explosives manufacturer and the inventor of dynamite. Even stranger, however, are the circumstances that led Nobel to develop his prizes in the first place. The Swedish scientist rarely spoke about his motives for funding the awards before his death on December 10, 1896, but he may have been inspired by reading an unflattering obituary—his own.

On November 27, 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his last will and testament at Paris’ Swedish-Norwegian Club. The 62-year-old industrialist had previously mused about using some of his personal fortune to support the work of scientists and inventors, but the document he produced described a project far more ambitious than anyone could have imagined. In fewer than 1,000 handwritten words, Nobel outlined a plan to devote the vast majority of his estate—worth around $265 million today—to a series of prizes for “those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.”

 Nobel listed five awards in his will (a sixth, for economics, was added in 1968). Three were for the greatest discoveries or inventions in the fields of physics, chemistry and medicine, while a fourth was devoted to the author of the “most outstanding work” of literature. The fifth award was designated for “the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses.” 

While Nobel’s award fund would eventually become famous, there’s no denying that he was an unlikely source for a peace prize. As historian Oscar J. Falnes later noted, his family name was “associated not with the arts of peace but with the arts of war.” Nobel’s father Immanuel was an engineer who had run armaments factories and built underwater mines for Russia during the Crimean War. Alfred, meanwhile, was famous for developing new types of explosives. Among his 355 patents were designs for nitroglycerin detonators, blasting caps and a smokeless gunpowder called ballistite. In 1867, he had invented dynamite, which was widely used both in construction and in warfare. By the time he wrote his will, Nobel was hugely wealthy and owned nearly 100 factories that made explosives and munitions.

What persuaded the “dynamite king” to devote his fortune to charity?

Nobel never spoke publicly about the motivations behind the pledge, but many believe it was inspired by an earlier case of mistaken identity. In 1888, Nobel’s brother Ludvig had died in France from a heart attack. Thanks to poor reporting, at least one French newspaper believed that it was Alfred who had perished, and it proceeded to write a scathing obituary that branded him a “merchant of death” who had grown rich by developing new ways to “mutilate and kill.” The error was later corrected, but not before Alfred had the unpleasant experience of reading his own death notice.

The incident may have brought on a crisis of conscience and led him to reevaluate his career. According to biographer Kenne Fant, Nobel “became so obsessed with his posthumous reputation that he rewrote his last will, bequeathing most of his fortune to a cause upon which no future obituary writer would be able to cast aspersions.”

(Evan Andrews)

Post-script

It would appear that when it comes to rewriting one’s own bio that Alfred Nobel beat us to the punch and set quite a standard for you and I to emulate.