Just A Guy Saying There Are Winners and Losers

In our elementary schools and team sports for younger kids there seems to be this foolish desire to make everyone a winner.  But there are winners and losers.  They had assemblies at my kids’ elementary schools, several times a year, in which eventually every kid won an achievement award.  When I coached my young son’s coach-pitch baseball league, I was told at the end of the season to get trophies for everyone, including myself. Instead of enhancing self-esteem, the truth is this just diminishes any one child’s actual accomplishments. read more

Lessons of a Big Brother and Mentor (Revised)

(Please note that this is revised version of an older column, but one that holds a lot of value, in my opinion.  I am still “matched” with both my “little brother” and mentor the young man with the genetic illness.  I can say it’s not easy, either of these relationships, but I know it’s making a difference in their lives.  It also costs me some money, but it’s my way of giving charity rather than writing a check to an organization)

One of the clichés about volunteerism is that “you get more than you give.” In my case, it was true in ways and means I least expected. I’ve just become a Big Brother and mentor, again, to a 7-year-old boy and a mentor to a 23-year-old young man. As these relationships are new, I don’t yet know what lessons I will learn. But I know well the lessons I learned the first time around.

I became a Big Brother long before I was married or a parent. My life, at that time, was pretty heady. In my early 30s, I had a successful showbiz career in which I was paid way too much for having so much fun. I lived in a lovely home in a chic part of town, had two cars, and no one to worry about other than myself. read more

Short Review of “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs”

cloudy with a chance of meatballsMuch to my surprise and pleasure, I totally loved Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs when I saw it yesterday with my “little brother” (I’m a Big Brother and he is 7).  We saw it in 3D and while those effects were good, it wasn’t a movie that screamed a need for 3D.  It was that rare animated movie that was truly clever, without trying too hard.  I was totally amused, laughing, and appreciative of the extraordinary quality of its graphics and very clever script. read more