Lessons For Life

These “Lessons for Life” are a gift that Leon Lessinger wants to leave to the world which he has loved, and has labored in, for over 90 years. He is the son of emigrants from Russia who arrived in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century. Penniless and poor, they pulled themselves up the social scale by sheer effort and determination, taking advantage of America’s opportunities that are open to all if one goes after them. Mostly self-educated, Leon’s father Samuel, became first a pharmacist and then a physician. He wanted to give something back to the country that had allowed him to do this, and he always set apart some of his time to treat, without fee, the indigent poor. Leon, too, has always treasured what America can be, and has served it as a soldier in WWII, as a psychiatrist and an educationalist. He was for many years superintendent of schools in California, and wrote a book from that experience titled “Every Kid a Winner, convinced that personal attention to each child, and an education that fosters rather than forces, will indeed result in every child being a winner in the education system.” In the twilight of his years, Leon fears that the America he and his father knew is disappearing, and that the optimistic surge toward personal and community betterment they both experienced is giving way to sour selfishness and unabashed hedonism to the disadvantage of the individuals themselves and of the communities they inhabit. He wishes his thoughts set down here to be a call to arms for people everywhere to regain our enthusiasm for life and its betterment.