Why the Title Born to be Mild?

At first glance, the title Born to be Mild sounds like a contradiction.

After all, the memoir recounts a life filled with close calls, questionable decisions, colourful characters, and situations that often teetered on the edge of disaster. Yet the title is more than a play on words—it reflects the personality at the heart of the story.

Unlike the fearless adventurers often celebrated in coming-of-age tales, James Hees never saw himself as a risk-taker. Growing up in a poor neighbourhood of a small town, he was often surrounded by people who seemed far more willing to push boundaries, ignore consequences, and charge headlong into trouble. He was the one who hesitated.

Looking back, that hesitation may have shaped the course of his life.

Throughout Born to be Mild, Hees reflects on a series of near misses and narrow escapes, many of them involving friends, co-workers, and circumstances that could have ended very differently. Again and again, he found himself standing uncomfortably close to danger—not because he sought it out, but because life had a habit of placing him there.

The title captures that irony. A person who considered himself cautious somehow accumulated enough stories for a memoir filled with misadventure, dark humour, and moments that defy belief.

But beneath the entertaining stories lies a deeper question. How much of our lives are shaped by choice, and how much by chance? Why do some people survive difficult circumstances while others do not? And what can we learn when we look back and try to make sense of it all?

With honesty, wit, and the perspective that comes from a lifetime of storytelling, James Hees explores those questions in Born to be Mild—a memoir that proves a mild disposition does not always lead to a mild life.