At springtime, my attention turns to seniors. No, not old people this time, but rather the young men and women who have been graduating from our colleges.
I imagine having been asked to speak at one of the many graduation ceremonies. In my fantasy, I stand before thousands of students, offering some of my insights.
A year ago I wrote a column about Mickey Rooney and how he had been robbed of his life savings by a member of his family. In his statement before the U.S. Senate Aging Committee, the 91-year-old movie actor gave heart-rending testimony about how this experience makes a person feel.
I belong to a church which, in large part, depends on women for its vitality. Yet, strangely enough, this church continues to deny women the power to shape its teaching and practice.
When growing up, I never gave any thought to this strange imbalance. Like most Catholic males, I saw church authority as quite properly vested entirely in men.
Writing about the value of the humanities as a field of study, Leslie Epstein offers important material for reflection. This Boston University professor has a reputation not only for his teaching but for several favorably received novels. Another of his credits comes from being the father of Theo Epstein, the erstwhile general manager of the Boston Red Sox.
Here I quote from three parts of a letter Leslie wrote to the New York Times:
“Everywhere, at every level of the American educational system, students have been cut off — or have cut themselves off — from the best that those who have come before them have thought and created.”
‘What the obsession with keeping one’s eyes on the prize has led to, I fear, is a certain coldness of heart.”
“In short, the lack of beauty in one’s life has consequences: the coarsening of one’s sensibility, the shrinking of imagination and the loss of feeling for what might be possible in the world. That is why, at bottom, one studies the humanities.”
Table talk over lunch with three friends turned, as it often does, to U.S. foreign policy. One of the friends had recently returned from a visit to Cuba. That stirred discussion of the continuing U. S. embargo and the Cubans who had left that country for Florida when Fidel Castro seized power.
Michael Mack is a man of many credits as a writer and theatrical performer. Now age 55, he has also accomplished two things in the spiritual realm that rank as unique in my experience.
First, despite suffering sexual abuse as a boy at the hands of a Catholic priest, he is now an active member of the church and values its spirituality. All the other victims of clergy I have known have distanced themselves from this faith community, most with continuing and understandable anger.
“Make Mine Manhattan.” This slogan, usually applied to my favorite mixed drink, also names the American city I most like to visit.
Ever since early life, I have regarded New York City with wonder. This attitude may seem naïve in later life–but the people, the buildings, the stores, and the arts continue to dazzle me every time I see them.