of the world with four distinct seasons,
for daily opportunities to sit
on our balcony and toast sunsets,
find solace in awe-inspiring presentations
of nature’s ever-changing
beauty. I am grateful for days
of good weather and for the ease
of coping with bad weather when
living in North Shore Towers.
W.S. Merwin, a beloved poet,
reveals:
“In my youth I believed in
somewhere else
I put my faith in travel
Now I am becoming my own
tree.”
I am grateful for opportunities
to be my own tree. A growing tree.
A giving tree. A tree that adapts to
the changing seasons. I am grateful
for the forest of which the tree is a
part. For the earth the tree is rooted
in. For the sky it is reaching up
to, a sky that, even as the light of
day fades, is filled with glittering
stars…
I am grateful for escaping many
of the bad things that could have
happened. Despite bumps, life
could have been so much worse.
I agree wholeheartedly with Dr.
Seuss’ guideline:
“You ought to be thankful, a
whole heaping lot,
for the places and people
you’re lucky you’re not!”
I am thankful for opportunities
to be there for others. Dr. Martin
Seligman, the founder of the discipline
of Positive Psychology, came
up with an exercise he called the
Gratitude Visit: inviting people to
write a letter expressing gratitude
to a person who has positively
impacted their life (recently or
years ago) and then – if possible
– deliver the letter in person and
read it to the recipient. Having
written gratitude letters myself
and having assigned similar letter
writing exercises to patients, I
am often moved to tears by what
happens when this exercise is
executed.
I remember a middle-aged man,
who despite being unusually articulate,
had difficulty expressing
emotions, writing a gratitude letter
to his elderly mother – expressing
how she has helped shape his life.
His beautifully written letter specified
experiences and events for
which he was grateful and reflected
on the meaning the relationship
had for him. Mother and son both
cried when he read the letter to
her (I held back tears when the
encounter was described to me…).
I have also used this assignment
with people who wished to extend
gratitude to individuals who were
deceased or no longer available for
direct contact. Reading the letter
aloud, even to oneself, can be a
powerful experience.
In preparation for Thanksgiving,
consider some version of the
Gratitude Visit: a letter to someone
who deserves your gratitude, specifying
the ways – big or small – he
or she has been helpful. A visit,
one-on-one, to share the letter and
express your gratitude in person,
is the best holiday gift I can think
of. And remember, gratitude is as
beneficial to the thanks-giver as it
is to the recipient.
Let us use the coming
Thanksgiving holiday as a catalyst
for sharpening our gratitude skills.
Let us follow the advice of the poet
and great spiritual master, Rumi:
“Gratitude is the wine for the
soul. Go on. Get drunk.”
THE SAXONS' MYSTIC
BY BOB RICKEN
In 1942, ten 6th graders met and
created a club to play baseball,
football and basketball against
other teams in the Crown Heights
section of Brooklyn, New York.
The club survived even when
the boys went on to high school,
college, served in the Korean War
and got married. This October we
will be celebrating the 78th •anniversary
of the Saxons S.A.C. •
Everyone thought that when we
attended 5 different high schools
the club would disband. Instead we
grew• closer and continued to have
meetings every Friday night in one
of the guy's apartments. We played
baseball, football and basketball
against neighborhood teams and
left the PS 167 playground to use
the larger Lincoln Terrace Park as
our home field.
During the Korean War, nine of
us went to serve in the Army, Navy
and Air Force. The seven who were
not in the service continued to meet
as a club and even rented a basement
in a private home to serve as
our first club house.
After the war we continued to
meet, and as our members began
to marry, we simply included their
wives in all of our social events.
They joined us for New Year's Eve
celebrations, weddings, vacations,
and unfortunately a few burials. We
never excluded the widows of our
members and our club expanded by
their attendance and participation.
When our friend Buddy was paralyzed
running into a wall playing
hand ball, we all felt the pain of
his wife and son. When his wife
Sandy moved him to Maine to be
with their son, we gave our support
but were frustrated by the fact that
we.. couldn’t render any help.
I decided to send him my 1945
basketball jersey and Sandy put it
in an area that Buddy could see it
while being bedridden. She let us
know that it was a source of great
comfort to him.
Three of the original Saxons are
now alive and are augmented by
several of our friends’ widows. On
this, our 78th anniversary, our celebration
now includes our wives,
children and grandchildren. It is
a time that we all thumb through
the pages of a book I wrote that
detailed our minutes, box scores
and the life achievements of our
members and their children. Our
parties end by us all singing our
club song:
"Oh when the Saxon team steps
into line.
They're gonna win, win another time.
They’re gonna fight, fight for victory
Until our team goes down in big league
history.
Yea Saxonsl
One has to wonder how many
athletic clubs have a history of 78
years....and still countingI
November 2019 ¢ NORTH SHORE TOWERS COURIER 21