This morning, I just happened to be packing to get ready to travel to New York on my book tour when, once again, I was feeling sorry for myself. Asking the same old question, why am I doing this in the 81st year of my life? Why not enjoy life like and relax like most octogenarians? In other words, once again I was feeling sorry for myself! Thank goodness I have Nancy to keep my spirits up! So, I decided to turn on ESPN before lunch to see when the NCAA March madness basketball games were scheduled when I noticed that there were three hours of collegiate Lacrosse games, including a documentary which was just ending about the sport that I played for four varsity years at City College of New York (now City University of New York), where I will be appearing at the Colin Powell school as a guest lecturer to discuss my book before a large group of students and faculty at a luncheon in honor of me and the publication of my book, A Whistleblowers Lament...the Perverted Pursuit of Justice in the State of New York. Lo and behold, on screen I recognized the goalie of our team, the New York Lacrosse Club, on which I played for some five years after I returned from Korea, while attending evening law school, and was employed by the Federal Trade Commission until I dislocated my left shoulder at Princeton University. Oren Lyons, a member and chief of the Onondaga nation is about three years older than me, and he was an All American goalie at Syracuse University in the same year that Jimmy Brown was All American on the same Syracuse team. Oren has become a legend in his own time! It was then that I realized how fortunate I have been. A kid from the tenements of Brownsville, Brooklyn, the first member of both sides of my family to go to college; playing varsity Lacrosse for four years, a sport I had never heard about until attending City College; being coached by Chief Leon Miller, Jim Thorpes brother-in-law, and a Cherokee who played sports with Jim Thorpe for the legendary former Carlisle Indian school in Pennsylvania, who was introduced to us by our coach at a skull session just before he died of Cancer; having been commissioned an Infantry officer upon graduation from CCNY; having graduated from the US Army Ranger School; having spent 16 months of my life above the 38th parallel in the Chorwan Valley of Korea as an Infantry officer; having been successful as defense counsel in two successive special courts-martial, and being appointed Asst. Regimental S-1, Courts and Boards officer; having had the ability to attend Brooklyn Law School in the evenings because Equitable Life paid half of my tuition, although I was earning $75 a week when both of our sons were born; having been hired as an attorney in the Federal Trade Commission under Pres. John F. Kennedys Law Honor Graduate Program; having the good fortune to have been married to two wonderful women, one of whom, Lenore, my teenage sweetheart, died suddenly in my arms, and the second of whom, Nancy Ann, supports me in every crazy endeavor, including teaching myself to tap dance and winning two gold medals in Raleigh at the NC State Senior Games against women who have likely danced all their lives; having filmed, edited and produced two video documentaries, one A Question of Guilt, the Martin Tankleff story, the story of a young man who was not guilty, but who spent over 17 years in a New York state maximum security prison, and who was recently awarded over 3.7 million dollars which can never compensate him for 17 years of a young life, with another lawsuit pending against Suffolk County and others; a 3 1/2 hour documentary, Men of Truth and Courage in a forgotten war; the 17th Infantry Regiment in Korea; interviewing 48 fantastic veterans of the Korean War all over this country, about the unit which I served with in Korea after the war, and for which Nancy (the Executive Producer) and I were recognized as Distinguished Members of the Regiment by the Secretary of the Army; and now a book, which I never intended to publish until I was told that I was in Stage 4 Lymphoma, the dreaded Cancer, is getting rave reviews from the reading public and a two page feature story in NEWSDAY, Long Islands newspaper. All this, without mentioning our three trips to Africa, filming the great reefs of the world, numerous cruise, over 160 videos on YouTube, etc., etc., etc. So, with a smile on my face, I say to my tired self, not bad for an old man who grew up in the Great Depression in a family that could sometimes barely keep us fed, although my dear Mother always asked: Did you ever not have anything to eat? Wasnt there always food on the table? Who could ever deny my Jewish mother!
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 17:45:38 +0000
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