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During this weekend’s memorials to the heroes of September 11, Vice President Joe Biden gave two of the most beautiful, sincere and inspiring speeches that I can remember. Having endured his own personal tragedy and devoted his life to public service, he was uniquely able to evoke both empathy and pride for the victims and their families. These speeches will surely stand as the highlight of his career. If you haven’t heard them, take a few minutes.
(continued from The King of King’s Road (11))
On the morning of the fifth day in the hospital, the homeless man regained consciousness and began to stir. The nurses reacted quickly and began to examine their patient closely, sitting him up and rotating him in bed, feeding him some water and rewrapping the bandages around his ribcage. They summoned the consultant on duty who tested the patient’s breathing. Finding it satisfactory, the consultant concluded that the punctured lung had sufficiently healed and removed the breathing tube. After concluding a thorough examination, the consultant helped the homeless man get out of bed and walk across the room to a chair, where he sat as the nurses changed his bedding.
As promised, the consultant called the Chelsea Fire Station to report on the change in status of his patient. A few of the firemen promptly came to the hospital to visit their strange neighbor, bringing with them a deck of cards and the homeless man’s Rubik’s Cube. The homeless man smiled in recognition of his firemen friends but said nothing. When they gave him the cards and Rubik’s Cube, he began to twist and turn the puzzle, solving it quickly as he had always done. He then began to shuffle the cards, smiling at the familiarity and comfort of handling the deck. No conversation ensued, but the firemen left feeling satisfied that their neighbor had survived.
The next day one of the firemen came back to visit with the Head Minister of the Chelsea Methodist Church who greeted the homeless man warmly and enquired after his comfort. The homeless man stared back blankly and did not respond. The fireman explained who the minister was, why he was there and how he could be helpful. The minister explained the services offered to the community’s homeless population by the West London Churches Homeless Concern and invited the homeless man to avail himself of their service. He offered to return with a case worker who could help the homeless man find his identity and get mental health care. The homeless man did not respond. The fireman and the minister left, somewhat less hopeful than when they arrived.
The next morning, the minister visited again, this time alone. He sat with the homeless man and did not talk or ask any questions. He remained with the homeless man until the nurse brought his lunch at which point he left but returned an hour later and sat for much of the afternoon silently watching and reading. After a while the homeless man began to shuffle and deal the deck of cards, placing two cards face down in front of the minister and one card down and another card face up for himself. He held out the deck toward the minister and nodded. The minister smiled and said, “Hit me.”
I love rainy days. It’s a good excuse to lay around all day. This week it rained for three consecutive days. I caught up on the final season of Entourage and was disappointed to learn that Turtle has lost weight and stopped wearing his baseball caps and basketball jerseys. I also put a significant dent in Ken Follett’s Fall of Giants, which I’m really enjoying. But I found that none of my summer playlists worked well with a rainy day. So I made a new one. Here it is; enjoy your next rainy day:
We were required to evacuate our home for Hurricane Irene. A fireman came to the house with his official vehicle, light flashing, and informed us that we were in a flood zone and must leave immediately. He further informed us that his life was more valuable than ours and, therefore, he would not be back to save us if we stayed.
We were surprised to learn that there are valuations being done on the lives in our local community. We never received any notice. Each year we receive an assessment on the value of our home with an inevitable real estate tax increase. You would think they could also have sent around the valuation on our lives in the same envelope. I’ll bet there is an inverse correlation with the value of our home.
When I think about it, I’m not really surprised that the value of my life is relatively low (my wife probably just suffers guilt by association). Lawyers never rank very high on anybody’s list. Add to that the fact that I am also an investment banker. Once we were “Masters of the Universe”, but since the great financial meltdown of 2008, we have become blood-sucking vampire squids (or their close relatives). In addition, I am a baby boomer, part of the generation that ruined the environment, blew up the economy and is poised to bankrupt Medicare and Social Security. And, perhaps most importantly, I haven’t been buying any raffle tickets for the annual Fireman’s Benefit.
So, now you know, don’t get caught anywhere near me during a fire or flood. No one is going to save me.
Slowin' Down with Fast Eddie 