Catch, then, O catch the transient hour, improve the moment as it flies.
Saint Jerome
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Hello Ally
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I was born in 1939. That was known as the Post Depression Era. There were wealthy people of course. There are always wealthy people, most of whom know nothing at all about wealth. But for the average guy, facing the horrible memories and echoes of the depression, the most important thing was to have a job. It really didn't matter, in many cases, what the job was as long as it provided a living wage. I grew up with that ethic drummed into me. I shouldn't think about having a career. Get a job.
In my recent move I've uncovered many things that have been packed away for want of space. Now that I have some room I'm unpacking boxes and discovering what is inside them. One of the things I found is my original Social Security card. I never had it replaced because I haven't had to show it to anyone for many years. You might say it's a collectors item.
It reminded me of my first job, a stand up job running a machine that wrapped up to mail issues of the Port Chester Daily Item of Port Chester, New York. For an entire summer I stood at a table with a stack of brown wrappers in front of me each with a number on it. The numbers repersented the number of papers I had to wrap. I would slide them across the wrappers into a small forked arm of metal and step on a switch. The machine did the rest. I put the wrapped papers in a pile and later someone came by to collect them. I took a bus back and forth to work and at lunch break I had a burger at Scotty's Diner. Four years later I had my first professional acting job.
The theatre became my career, my profession and my job. But I got side tracked into a radio announcing job that was very good. Although a cornucopia of difficulties and tensions, radio can be a lucrative and satisfying endeavor, I made money, I was satisfied, I was self-satisfied, life was good, the future was rosy, I thought. I didn't have to worry about anything. I had a job.
I was the afternoon announcer. In the evenings, after dinner and a few drinks I would put myself to sleep watching aimless, inane television. I did that for seven years. SEVEN YEARS.
Today that is one of the greatest regrets of my life. What did I do with all that time I had given myself? Nothing. At about the same time as that was beginning to worry me I was growing dissatisfied with just broadcasting. Although for some announcers going on the air everyday was a thrill, for me the thrill was gone. Then I heard the Paul Simon song "One man's ceiling is another man's floor." It hit me that what I was doing was bumping my head on the ceiling. I had to move on. (What? And give up your job?)
I did, and went back into the theatre which kept me active and busy, challenged and involved with life up to it's full cup and running over. No regrets, except that I didn't do it sooner.
Now I write every day and paint often. I am busy, productive and reasonably happy, in spite of personal problems. I don't want to waste another moment of life, and I pass along the same advice to everyone.
There is a useless, pointless life to be lived drinking yourself silly every night or getting high on drugs and playing stupid games on a screen or in a bed. Life is the most important thing you have. Why waste it?
The present is what we have and what we always have, in fact it's all we have. It should be grasped, seized and improved on in every way possible. It doesn't matter what you do with the present moment as long as you don't waste it.
Dana Bate - The Vagabond
Never Give Up
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Showing posts with label Port Chester Daily Item. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Port Chester Daily Item. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
The Daily Items
For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?
I Corinthians
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Item #1 -- The difference between childhood and old age is that when you are a child, most of the people in the world are older than you are. They have most of the wisdom and most of the authority. And then one day, one hour, one moment when you don't realize it, suddenly most of the people in the world are younger than you are. They may not have most of the wisdom but they have most of the authority.
Item #2 -- On Thursday of last week the computer erased about 16 hours of my work. No getting it back. I've redone about 3 hours if it. I'm searching for my enthusiasm.
Item #3 -- Upon Krissy's suggestion, which was a good one, I cleaned out my closet. As a result I have a large leather bag filled to the brim with clothes, most of it in good condition. I wanted to donate it to the Salvation Army, but they don't send a truck to pick up just a single bag. So here it sits.
Item #4 -- This month, the month of the Income Tax and a malfunctioning telephone, I must go from the 1st to the 21st with no income. The longest possible stretch to the SS check. At the end of the month there will be no money left, but there will be a bit of standard type food in the apartment, finally, food I don't have to chew. Wasn't it T. S. Eliot who said April is the cruelest month?
APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
5
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
(TSE)
Item #5 -- There's another exhibit of paintings by local artists, But I'm unable to display any of my paintings. It's in another town and I had no means of getting them there.
Item #6 -- No one is expected to know who JB is.
Item #7 -- One effect of living a vagabond life is learning to do things for myself, even if it takes my three times as long. I'm not used to asking for help. I don't know where help is.
Item #8 -- The computer is not enabling me to post "gadgets." Thanks to Bill I have a camera to take photos of my paintings. But then I don't know if I can put them up. I'll have to solve that somehow. And I'll have to get my printer working.
Item #9 -- Will power is a mighty thing and something we must never sacrifice to an emasculated god. It must always be used for benefit, never for harm.
Item #10 -- My first real job, as a teenager with a Social Security number, was at the Port Chester Daily Item. I worked in the circulation department one summer. I operated a machine that wrapped up newspapers for the mail. Two summers later I had my first professional acting job.
DB - The Vagabond
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I Corinthians
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Item #1 -- The difference between childhood and old age is that when you are a child, most of the people in the world are older than you are. They have most of the wisdom and most of the authority. And then one day, one hour, one moment when you don't realize it, suddenly most of the people in the world are younger than you are. They may not have most of the wisdom but they have most of the authority.
Item #2 -- On Thursday of last week the computer erased about 16 hours of my work. No getting it back. I've redone about 3 hours if it. I'm searching for my enthusiasm.
Item #3 -- Upon Krissy's suggestion, which was a good one, I cleaned out my closet. As a result I have a large leather bag filled to the brim with clothes, most of it in good condition. I wanted to donate it to the Salvation Army, but they don't send a truck to pick up just a single bag. So here it sits.
Item #4 -- This month, the month of the Income Tax and a malfunctioning telephone, I must go from the 1st to the 21st with no income. The longest possible stretch to the SS check. At the end of the month there will be no money left, but there will be a bit of standard type food in the apartment, finally, food I don't have to chew. Wasn't it T. S. Eliot who said April is the cruelest month?
APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
5
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
(TSE)
Item #5 -- There's another exhibit of paintings by local artists, But I'm unable to display any of my paintings. It's in another town and I had no means of getting them there.
Item #6 -- No one is expected to know who JB is.
Item #7 -- One effect of living a vagabond life is learning to do things for myself, even if it takes my three times as long. I'm not used to asking for help. I don't know where help is.
Item #8 -- The computer is not enabling me to post "gadgets." Thanks to Bill I have a camera to take photos of my paintings. But then I don't know if I can put them up. I'll have to solve that somehow. And I'll have to get my printer working.
Item #9 -- Will power is a mighty thing and something we must never sacrifice to an emasculated god. It must always be used for benefit, never for harm.
Item #10 -- My first real job, as a teenager with a Social Security number, was at the Port Chester Daily Item. I worked in the circulation department one summer. I operated a machine that wrapped up newspapers for the mail. Two summers later I had my first professional acting job.
DB - The Vagabond
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