My grandfather told me there are only two kinds of people in the world, doers and schnorrers, or mooches.
Years later I'd moved to a new high school, a more exclusive one, and I was getting bullied and I didn't have any friends there. I spent my weekends at my grandfather's pool.
He listened to all of it. Every weekend. He was the one I told.
And then he taught me what to do about it. He'd been bullied too, as a kid in New York, for being Jewish. The way he got through it was to be smarter than the other boys. Every interaction was a move in a chess game. So he taught me to outsmart them.
He was an incredible ally to me in that period. He was my best friend.
I didn't see for a long time that both of those things came from the same man. The grandfather who told me the world had only two kinds of people in it was also the only person who showed up when I was in trouble. And the way he showed up was to teach me how to win.
I don't think he knew he was doing that. I think he was handing me the only thing that had ever worked for him.