GRIT - Stories of Resilience

Pomp and Circumstance - Journey into Uncertain Times

From marching to graduation to the sounds of the orchestra playing Pomp and Circumstance to the "yawning uncertainty" of the of their lives, the new graduates and all the rest of us must deal with the uncertainty of where we are as a country, how we came to be so divided with each other, losing our way and figuring out how to get better. It is not too late but time is short. We need to educate ourselves as to who we have been as a country and what we want to be going forward. What we need is civility, passion and Volume Two of President Kennedy's book Profiles in Courage. A provocative look at where we might go from here.

The Times of Our Lives - Making Them Last

The recent death of a good friend and lawyer Norman Kellum of New Bern, North Carolina, has pushed me to reflect on living each day to it greatest potential and to take care of myself. Since I was a young person at the age of ten, I have tended to fall or trip and break arms and legs. Casts, crutches and boots have been part of my life. Most recently a fall on the beach where nothing was hurt but my pride has finally made me take notice and to walk every day and try to improve my balance. Two recent books, When We See You Again and Dispatches from Grief are about the untimely deaths of a child. There are to me, no more days where I wish them away or to hurry on to the next day. Today is all I have got, and likely the same for you. This is a serious and at times whimsical look at how best to live your life...one day at a time

Serving Time - one basket of hushpuppies at a time

From the back of the house cooking quesadillas at the Border Cafe (back of the house) to hosting and then working as a waiter at the 42nd Street Oyster Bar (front of the house), I joined the ranks of probably millions of people all over the world, working for tips. For me, it was not my first job, nor to make money for school, but to simply work and make money. I didn't know i would work at the 42nd Street Oyster Bar and find myself again allowing me to start over with my life. Both poignant and light, it remains one of the best things I ever did. s t b

Freddy Kassab Says One for Them

On June 23, 1989, Freddy Kassab, the stepfather of Colette MacDonald and grandparent of Kimberley and Kristen, and I met in Tampa, Florida to talk about their deaths 19 years before, in 1970, and the years that followed. Freddy wanted to make a statement to the United States Parole Commission in case his former son-in-law, Jeff MacDonald requested parole. Freddy and his wife Mildred were not in the best of health, and he worried they would not be there to speak at a future date. As it turned out, it was 2006 before such a Hearing was held, but the video conversation we had that day lived on and was shown to the Parole Commission. Freddy said one for them that day as he always did. This podcast is the audio recording of that conversation.

Punch, the Monkey show us Grit and Resilience

Punch, the Monkey, abandoned at birth by his mother, is now seven months old. For the longest time, while living at a zoo just outside Tokyo, Japan, Punch was on his own, bullied and shunned completely by the other monkeys there. Punch was given a plush toy from IKEA, an orangutan, that became his only friend. Punch stayed with him, dragged him everywhere and slept with him. He would not let him go. Finally, another monkey befriended Punch, and the barriers came down, and he was finally accepted by the other monkeys in the zoo. But it was hard going there for a while. Punch's story is one of Grit and Resilience. He shows how to do it. This is his story and the meaning for all of us. Check Punch out on Google and see for yourself.