Impactful Drama

Some films just stay with you and even change you. But they are rare.

Pilgrim on a Long, Long Journey

Moviehouses are empty as I write this locked down in SoCal. It was 1962. I was seventeen and still searching for my own identity. I saw a film one of my life’s mentors highly recommended. He was my high school English teacher in my senior year, a WWII vet, a complete character and a man of enormous enthusiasm named Elvin Albaum. He said the film included extraordinary performances particularly by George C. Scott.

There I found myself in the darkness of the theater at least two or three times watching a black and white film about a pool hustler entitled The Hustler. It was about the maturing of a young pool hustler who learned the inordinate value of loving the right woman and how you earned your daily bread. It was all dramatically and powerfully portrayed.

I found the love of my life at 32 and my most meaningful work…

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Scores of Years

“Age doesn’t arrive slowly, it comes in a rush. One day nothing has changed, a week later, everything has. A week may be too long a time, it can happen overnight. You are the same and still the same and suddenly one morning two distinct lines, ineradicable, have appeared at the corners of your mouth.” James Salter, the late American novelist

“It is a blessing to get old. It is a blessing to find the time to do the things, to read the books, to listen to the music. … I have nothing now but praise for my life.” Maurice Sendak, the late children’s author of renown.

There are two sides to every story. We each have a life’s story to tell.

I feel better at 76 than I thought I would, but this arthritis in my thumbs has stumbled on a critical area of my daily life. However, the opportunity to listen with a whole heart, to read extensively, to write voluminously and to pray full of life, have opened doors for my soul.

White hair, character on one’s face and the distinct hand of God in one’s life are precious, treasured gifts. May you be blessed with scores of years. May they be rich with the gifts of life.