Learning from Life's Lessons

As we go through the years, we come in contact with many people and situations that have a tendency to shape our outlook on life itself. In these Life's Lessons, I have attempted to set down in writing a few things I've learned from my life. Some are humorous, some are intended to be helpful, and others give warning of experiences and confrontations to avoid. Enjoy and profit from them. They are yours to do with, as you will.

August 4, 1919- That was the day I was born in Mt. Sinai Hospital on the West side of Chicago. My earliest recollection was when my brother Lou said I was so ugly, that he tried to trade me to our Uncle Chester for his dog, an Airedale. Our uncle declined so I was left in the family. In the early 1930s it was customary for the tobacco companies to pass out free samples of their cigarettes. To protect the three cigarettes in the sample, they were packaged in a small paper box printed in the same colors and style as the regular packs of twenty cigarettes. This, of course, was intended to establish brand recognition when the recipient made his/her next tobacco purchase. Age was not a factor in the street corner distribution, and some of us 11 year olds were handed a couple of packets. We ran down the nearest alley and proceeded to smoke like macho men. When I got home for dinner that evening, a package of Camel cigarettes was next to my plate. My mother said 'if your going to smoke, do it at home.' That took the macho away from me and I never lit another smoke the rest of my life! Her psychology was more effective than warnings, lectures, biopsies, nicotine patches or any stop-smoking device!