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BY: And so if there... is there anything that you want your grandchildren or great grandchildren to know, or some particular value or whatever that you want for them?

HY: Very, very strong precept for them.

TI: We're recording. [Laughs]

HY: Whatever you do, do it the best possible way. In other words, do the job right the first time. Don't make shortcuts, because it only takes a little more time, a little more effort to do the job right the first time. So do it correctly.

BY: That's your one piece of advice?

HY: Yeah.

BY: Nothing else? [Laughs]

HY: Well, I've got lots more, don't tell lies and things like that. I got a lot more, but that's the one I tell. If you're going to do anything, do it right.

BY: We did everything. I don't know, do you have anything else you want to say?

HY: No.

BY: Maris or Erin, do you want to ask anything?

HY: Did we spend that much time talking?

BY: You answered every question that I had.

HY: Well, okay, that's good.

BY: Okay. Anything else you want to add?

HY: It's been a great life. I've been so damn lucky. It is so much better to be lucky than smart, isn't it? Because you know, when you stop to think, I'm ninety-seven, and here I can still think. I can't walk very well, I don't hear, don't see, but I can... and I've got friends, and that's very valuable. I want to pass on all this stuff that I got. I got tons, buckets of stuff that I want to pass on to my kids, but the kids don't want it.

TI: But part of this, you say you're lucky, and I feel the same way. But in the same way, I feel like you sort of make your own luck, too. It's kind of like some of the things you're saying in terms of if you work hard, you live your life...

HY: Well, yes. That has a bearing.

TI: That sets you up to be like you in some ways, right?

HY: Well, yeah, but other people like my brother, Shu, he died much younger than me, and he had a lot going for him, I think. But that's me, that's what I think.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.