Page 13 - Boca ViewPinte - March '24

March 2024 Viewpointe, Page 13
The Young Boy Still Within The Old Man

By Robert W. Goldfarb with us!” We never learned how far that cloud had traveled travel deeper into old age. I’ve been reading books on
or where it came from, but I knew at once I wanted to mindfulness and now meditate every day. These help me
Last month I became 94-years-old. I was born in leave these streets and go to where the air was sweet. cool the competitive heat that fueled me for so long. But,
the first weeks of the Great Depression, an event for I was only about six or seven, but heard my parents more important, I’m convinced that gentle boy is still
which my father blamed me. I have lived under sixteen talking of neighbors who had chosen to break away within me, waiting to guide us on the rest of our journey.
presidents and through eleven decades that trembled from the rest of us. I understood that If there was a way
with unemployment, wars, economic booms and busts, out, I would have to distance myself from the boys who Bob’s articles have appeared in The New York Times,
scientific leaps that launched the Atomic Age and stalked these streets. Even more important, I would have The San Francisco Chronicle and in Next Avenue, the
ended polio, and words I hadn’t learned in school like to distance myself from the gentle boy I was. I could see publication of the Public Broadcasting Service. His
“feminism,” “gay,” “transgender” and “internet.” My those who left the neighborhood were different from those book, “What’s Stopping Me From Getting Ahead?” was
parents couldn’t afford either a phone or an encyclopedia; who remained. Some were boxers like Jake LaMotta, published by McGraw Hill and is in five languages. 
I now carry both in my pocket. others were gamblers. There were friends of my parents
They were years in which I made my first friends, who held more conventional jobs. But all were strong
learned and played games, attended and graduated from enough to push their way into safer neighborhoods. I Community Channel
school, served in one of those wars, went to college thanks would recast myself into someone strong enough to make
to the G.I. Bill, launched a career, married, had children, his way to a place where flowers grew. Have You Seen It?
grandchildren and, recently, my first great-grandchild. As I’ve grown older, I’ve begun to wonder if I had
The Boca Pointe Community information channel
Like many men my age, I was fueled by aggressiveness on made a mistake in taking nothing of the gentle boy on is currently broadcast on Comcast channel 63 and
my journey through the streets, the schoolyards, the military my journey. It wasn’t my sense of self that brought the soon will be transitioning to channel 1075. Please
barracks and the workplaces of those decades. The gentle boy first hints it might be time for me to replace my still- check both channels on your TV to see which channel
I was would have been robbed of his lunch money in The simmering aggressiveness with behavior that was less hosts our community information. If you are unable
Bronx neighborhood where I grew up. I rebuilt myself into a biting. It was my contact with men my age that made me to view either channel, please call our office (561)
tougher version of that boy. Instead of skipping, I swaggered, realize behavior admired in a younger man is unseemly in 395-7551. Tune in for community updates, BPCA/
daring anyone to take my lunch money. someone my age. Several of my friends never jettisoned committee meeting dates and current events. 
Over the decades, I never regretted leaving the boy their high-octane fuel. They continue to blaze with
behind. I won the respect of thugs who ran gangs, of aggressiveness when they sense a tone of disrespect from
sergeants who had jumped into Normandy, of men who those who don’t recognize their importance.
led companies. I competed my way into larger offices on I recently thought a slightly younger acquaintance
higher floors. I suspect the gentle boy I was would have was going to punch a car valet who signaled him to slow
wondered why anyone would choose the jobs I fought down. It was then I happened upon a comment by the
for. Weren’t cooperation and compassion better for one’s author George Eliot who said “It is never too late to be
humanity than competition and unkindness? But, looking what you might have been.” I saw at once I had to reach
back, I don’t remember hearing words like compassion deep within myself to learn if that gentle boy was still Advertise,
or kindness during working hours. there. Could I rebuild myself again, this time replacing
A nearly ninety-year-old memory recently reminded my competitiveness with his gentleness? It’s possible I Check out our Web site!
me of the moment I knew I had to leave the gentle boy might celebrate my hundredth birthday and don’t want
behind. I was standing with friends in a street steaming aggressiveness blowing out the furnace of candles on my www.seabreezepublications.com
with trash tossed from tenement windows. Suddenly, the cake. I’d like that gentle boy to be at the party with me.
thick air sweetened as though a cloud filled with flowers I’ve been taking small steps to rekindle whatever or call
began raining its scent upon us. The air we began breathing remains within me of the boy I was. I no longer let
made me want to leap. We all looked up, some of us emotion drive my car. I allow others to cut into my (561) 746-3244
exclaiming “What’s that!” These were tough boys, but lane. A slight lift of my foot is easy but shows me there
devout Catholics. One said “That’s Mary coming to be are more profound ways to turn into the slow lane as I