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One Leg Up on Poetry WIth Dr. Victor Fuhrman, Author of 'Circles and Rings' 9-14-24 · OneLegUpAlex Media

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: And now a very special presentation on One Leg Up
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: with Alex Carett.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: I've been blessed with the gift of inspired poetry most
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: of my life, and I'm going to share a poem
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: that I've shared in print before, but this will be
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: the first time that I've recited it for you. It's
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: a poem of comfort for those who have lost loved ones,
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: and the understanding, my personal understanding, is that we are
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: sole family and will be reunited someday. The poem is
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: called Circles and Rings, the path of great beauty in
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: so many things, from atoms to galaxies, circles and rings
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: natural wisdom that dwells there within from not to three sixty,
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: that magical spin. We circle each other in gravity's dance,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: as Guia circles soul, the solar romance, as Luna circles us,
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: in life giving motion, drawing the tides and inner emotion.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: And the age of the oak is found in its rings,
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: as in woman and man and all living things. And
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: when the rings stop and life comes to an end,
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: we'll all circle back and dance once again.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: That voice is someone you hear that I am fortunate
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: enough to not only have introduced my podcast, but call
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: my dad, Victor Furman, Doctor Victor Furman, thanks for joining
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: my podcast one leg Up today, Alex.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for joining, Thank you so much
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: for asking me to join you, and for all of
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: the love and support you've given me.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Well, you've turned that poem Circles and Rings into a
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: book published by Goddess Communication, and of course that is
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: by my mom. But we'll get into the book itself,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: so talk about the poem, why you wrote it, and
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: then how it's turned into a book. Now.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: For me, poetry has always been inspired. I see visions
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: or hear things that give me inspiration, and as I
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: share in the book, my mother passed away in January
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: of twenty twenty, and shortly after she passed, I started
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: seeing these visions of circles and rings and they kept
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: appearing to me, and I realized they were giving me
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: a message, an inspired message about the fact that we
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: may leave this life, but ultimately we also will return
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: and for those that we love, maybe we leave them
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: in one lifetime, but I truly believe in have come
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: to find that we are reunited with them in another lifetime.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: And that was the inspiration for the poem. And the
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: inspiration for the book, which is a collection of fifty
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: of my poems, some of which I wrote when I
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: was thirteen and some that I've read in the last
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: four or five years.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: And talk about that journey of poetry, because you've been
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: involved with that for many years. I just said thirteen
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: years old, or maybe even younger.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, younger, but the first real coaching poem was when
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: I was thirteen. But I come from, interestingly enough of family,
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: the Furman's side of my family, who were poets. My dad,
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Abraham Furman, was a poet. He used to rhyme a lot.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: And what I didn't find out until after my mother
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: passed away was that she had a collection of his poems,
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: love poems that he had sent to her both before
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: and after they were married. And my aunt Ada and
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: my Aunt Lilian, my uncle Willie, all of the Furmans
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: were poets in their own right. And when I was
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: a child, my Aunt Ada used to have me sit
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: with her at the piano and she would play songs
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: on the piano and I would make up lyrics that
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: rhymed when they were when she was doing the piano playing.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: And my Aunt Lillian was a stockbroker, and you had
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: taken me to her office in the nineteen sixties where
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: they did the stock company the stock brokerage, and I
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: learned the names of some of the companies, and I
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: learned some of the terms that they used. That actually
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: turned that into a little lyric for a song. And
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: she played the piano when I sang the song. It
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: was called the stock Market Syndrome, and that was from
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: the nineteen sixties. So I believe that rhyming and poetry
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: in that sense is something that's genetic, and so consequently
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: I inherited it from the firm inside of my family.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: You know, you've lived through the sixties. I feel like
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: that was a big part of the sixties. And did
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: you find poetry sort of a fabric of your life
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: even during that time as well? Oh?
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Like I said, when I was thirteen, the first
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: poem came through me. I thought I was the reincarnation
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: at one point of Edgar Helen Poe, and I wrote
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: a poem called Injustice, and I'm not going to share
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: it now, but my inspiration was the idea of someone
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: being executed by a king who found him to be disloyal,
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: and so consequently it inspired that poem called Injustice, and
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: it kind of mirrors for me the type of thing
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: that Edgar Allan Poe would have written. And so that's
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: why I felt that deep connection with Edgar Allan Poe.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: Very interesting. Now you mentioned that your family and your
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: father and your family had done poetry. Would you say
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: creativity has had an hereditary then.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Specifically the gift of rhyme and poetry, I think
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: is something that is something that can be passed down genetically,
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: and I am grateful for that genetic gift. I remember
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: as a kid, my father and my aunts and uncles
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: sitting around a table after a holiday dinner, and the
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: children were not supposed to be present, but I would
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: sneak back to listen to what they were sharing, and
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: they would share limericks. And for those who were aware
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: of limericks, you know that most of limericks are rather vulgar,
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: use vulgar language. But in the case of my family,
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: I would listen, and I would love the rhyming, and
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: I would giggle when I would hear it. The great
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: publisher Bennett Surf wrote a limerick about limericks. He was
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: a fan of limericks and he said limericks. Limericks cast
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: laps gastronomical in a space that is so economical. But
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: the good ones I've seen so seldom are clean, and
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: the clean ones so seldom are comical. So for people
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: who are not familiar with limericks, that's a limerick the
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: way the rhyming in the stands go.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: So, Dad, I know you've had quite a journey on
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: this earth. Has poetry been a healing tool for you
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: as well?
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: Absolutely? I found that any time that I've had sorrow
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: in my life, for a loss of my life, that
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: expressing that in poetry not only for me, but to
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: help others who would eventually see those poems. I used
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: to share my poems on Facebook, and I would share
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: my poems in other places and websites and literary magazines,
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: and so consequently those poems create an energy of healing,
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: give people hope at a time of loss, at a
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: time of pain, at a time of suffering, and recognize
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: the fact that when we all have loss or all
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: go through some type of tragedy, that with compassion and empathy,
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: we can help each other and share that energy with
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: each other.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: Now I know that you've adapted some of Rabbi Yearman's
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: use of poetry talk about are there any that define
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: names in the book?
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: I have to ask that no, not really, and those
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: are not really poems. Rabbi Joseph Gelberman, who was the
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: founder of the New Seminary that I attended, was graduated
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: and ordained by included and your mother was also That's
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: how he met. He used to say that in the
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: Kabalistic tradition, you could take a name and use the
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: letter that began with all the letters from a name
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: and find a deeper meaning for the people who carried
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: that name. So, for example, if we use the name
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: Alex and said, what's in the name Alex? What's hidden
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: in the name Alex? I'm doing this imprompted, by the way,
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: didn't have this prepared. So the A stands for abilities,
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: and Alex, who was born with the challenge of having
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: one leg but knows that he has one leg up
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: on everything in this world, is a gentleman who expresses
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: all of his life and his thrill for life and
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: his activity and everything with these abilities that he has
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: within him to go out and explore and find out
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: all of the wonderful things. The L stands for laughter,
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: loves to laugh, and as someone who shares jokes from
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: time to time, I'm grateful that I have Alex as
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: an audience because he laughs at all of my dumb jokes.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: The dad jokes that I tell the E stands for excellence.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: Alex puts together work that is excellent, be it his
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: personal work on these podcasts and other things that he
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: shares publicly, to the work that he does within broadcasting.
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: Excellence is the word that defines the work that Alex
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: brings to the world. And the X stands for extreme
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: with the wrong spelling obviously, the poetic spelling of extreme.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: And whether it comes to sports or any of the
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: things that Alex finds thrills with and finds enjoyment from
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: and finds stimulating in his life, he takes them all
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: to the extreme. Just for those who don't know, Alex
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: has probably met more famous people, more famous athletes and
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: broadcasters and people in political life, and they all have
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: embraced him for his excellence, for his laughter, and for
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: his abilities.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: And may I say, Dad, that you took me in
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: as one of your own basically when I was six
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: years old. I know that twenty five years ago you
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: and Mom made it official. But when I was six,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: I went over to see you at the student you know,
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: at the audio booth at the temple, and then we
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: hit it off right there.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: Absolutely your spirit, your energy. For people who have never
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: physically met you, you can get it sometimes from photographs,
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: but from those who have never met you. Alex, from
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: the time I met him, when he was six years old,
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: had this smile, this smile that engaged you and just
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: drew you in to find out more about who this
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: young man was, and this spirit, this out outpouring of
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: spirit of joy and exuberance and everything that he did.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: And who could not fall in love with a person
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: who does what Alex does.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: Well, thank you Dad for that. Now people have fallen
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: in love with what you've done through these poems on Facebook,
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: and when you get people's reactions on there, when you
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: post these poems now in a book Circles and Ring,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: What does that mean to you? When people are reacting, Yes,
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: they love what you're writing.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: It means that the mission that I've taken on since
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: I've became an ordained inter faith minister, but also before that,
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: is a mission of healing and a mission of empathy
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: and a mission of compassion. So consequently, when someone writes
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: to me and says your poem meant so much to me,
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: it helped me get through a difficult time, or your
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: poem inspired me to go out and do something different
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: in my life, I know that I'm fulfilling my mission.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: I don't go out looking for gratitude or compliments or
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: any of that, but when I get those feedback messages,
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: I know that everything that I put out in this
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: world is meant for that higher reason, that purpose of
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: healing and empathy and compassion and love.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: I feel like it's a symmetrical synchronistic as your word
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: that you and mom basically met twenty five years ago.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: She's a writer year right, I feel like there's a synchronicity.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: There isn't there absolutely, And it's interesting that a lot
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: of writers, if you look at some of the famous
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: writers and who were couples, they enjoyed both writing and
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: expressing themselves with written word. And more than a synchronicity,
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: I think that your mother and I are soulmates, There's
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: no question about it. And you are a soulmate child.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: I don't know if you want me to share this,
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: but I'll share of this in my first marriage, I
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: lost a child prematurely born, lasted for two weeks. And
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: when your mother and I got together, she showed me
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: a picture of you as an infant, and I recognized
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: the same face as the son that I lost in
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: my first marriage, and I knew that you were my
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: son coming back to me. That's a synchronicity. That's a
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: soulmate and your mom and I are soulmates, were soulmate family.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: I one hundred person believe that. And by the way,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: I've grown up in this household for now twenty five years,
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: and you both have had a lot of writings along
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: the walls of our household.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: I feel like right absolutely, your mom's stuff and some
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: of my stuff, and the photographs that represent in a
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: photo form the poetry of the joy and the happiness
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: that we're shared together as a family.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: Now, if you can't tell, my dad, Vic Ferman has
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: a radio voice. So talk about your radio experience and
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: even these radio shows that you've been doing with Home
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: Times that have led to this formation of the book,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: or have they had a role in.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: It indirectly because I've shared some of the poems on
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: some of the shows you're talking about my podcasts. I
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: do two podcasts for Home Times magazine. They have Home
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: Times Radio and one podcast it is called Destination Unlimited,
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: which started in twenty sixteen when I was co officiating
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: a wedding in New Jersey with your mother and the
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: publisher and the editor of Home Times and the Buck
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: family Chris and Leanni Buck were there and we met
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: them there and at the time they had heard my
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: voice and said, you know, we love your voice. Would
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: you like to join us and do a podcast? And
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: I said absolutely, it was the right time to do it,
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: and so consequently Destination Unlimited was the first podcast that
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: I started, which is the Crossroads of science and spirituality.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: And then with the advent of COVID in twenty twenty
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty one, I recognized a need for another podcast
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: to address the issues that people were facing at that time.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: So that's how Vox Novus the New Voice was born.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: So I've been doing those two podcasts for my dear
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: dear friends Chris and Leanni Buck of Home Times and
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: then the previous broadcasting when I was in the Brooklyn
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: College I was on Brooklyn College Radio in nineteen seventy
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: nineteen seventy one and then I was in the Air
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: Force for six years nineteen seventy three to nineteen seventy nine,
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: and I actually wound up in Armed Forces radio in
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: Korea in an organization called the American Forces Korea Network,
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: where I did both radio and television US for the
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: two years that I was in Korea, and I'm grateful
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: for that opportunity. When I got out of the service,
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: I actually tried to get into broadcasting, and at the time,
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: the market, the wages they were offering really low to start,
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: and I realized I needed to have something a little
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: more lucrative, and I placed an ad in the New
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: York Times, the Sunday edition of saying, let my communication
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: skills enhance your business. A gentleman saw that on a Monday,
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: called me on a Tuesday and interviewed me, hired me
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: on a Wednesday, and that started a forty four year
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: career in the welding supply industrial welding technology industry, which
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: I just retired from at the end of March.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: Yes, you did, and you've had a lustrious career there. Now,
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: I have to say this for folks who wonder how
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: I got to Queen's College, it's because I followed my
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: dad Vick's advice. I mean, you were there fifteen years
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: ago that said, why do you just go to Queen's
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: and see what happened? So I became a fellow CuNi
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: alum because of your advice. How about that?
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: Absolutely? And I'm so grateful because within proximity to our
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: home was a short bus ride away and gave you
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: the ability to stay within the confines of the area
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: that you'd be able to study and come home and
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: do all the work that you want to do and
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: do all the activity that you wanted to do.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: Also, we've had a very bright household for the last
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: twenty plus years, and there's been some tragedy amidst you know,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: losing Deity, losing my posts about how have you been
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: able to keep us all light if you will, during
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: all these times of sadness and grief.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: Actually, you know, something of the things that I learned
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: I lost my dad when I was fifteen, and one
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: of the things that I learned from that experience was
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: that grief and mourning is something that is natural. It's
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: something that we all process. But when you sit with
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: someone who's grieving and listen without trying to say anything,
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: just allow them to share what they're going through, give
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: them what I call compassionate and empathetic listening. It provides
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: a space for them to process the grief, and in
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: the doing the active listening, he helps them to heal.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: And though the grief will be there, it'll be lessened
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: and lessened and lessened through this active love and compassion
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: and empathy what I call the gift of true listening.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: When people and by the way, we're talking about reading
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: today as well as listening. When people buy this book,
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: what can they expect. I mean, they've seen your poems,
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: but I feel like it's got to be an expanded
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: thought process from one Victor Firman. Right, It's not just
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: your poem. It's a lot of different writings and thoughts
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: in this book. Right.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: Each of the poems has an introductionist to what inspired
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: the poem and the poems. Some of them are funny,
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: some of them are aimed toward children, some of them
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: are aimed toward healing. Some of them are based on spirituality,
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: and some of them are based on nature. There's various
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: different topics that I cover, a full spectrum of topics
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: that I cover, but each one has an introductionist to
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: what inspired that poem, and it gives the reader an
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: insight into the message that came through when the poem
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: was inspired.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: Do I understand that you had poems also published in
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: newspapers when you were younger as well?
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: When I was in junior high school, I had some
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: of my poetry published there. The poem about injustice was
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: published in junior high school. Uh, I don't know about
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: high school, I don't remember. And I think in Brooklyn
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: College a couple of my poems, my early poems were published. Yeah.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Do you looking back and reading this that has been
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: published a how does that feel and be? Are you
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: even taking it back that you had this emotional spiritual
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: journey these over you know how her many years.
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: I love to see the format. I'm grateful to your mother,
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: who's my publisher. It's wonderful to have a publisher that
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: you're also married to and helped me assemble it and
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: do that because she had all those skills. I didn't
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: have any of those skills. With reference to reflecting upon
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: what's in there, I've come to a point in my life,
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: especially the last few years, where I've come to recognize
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: that everything the rabbi who founded the seminary that your
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: mother and I both attended. The new seminary into first,
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: one of the first interfate seminaries in the world, used
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: to say us an exp that said, everything is unfolding
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: in divine order. We may not see it, we may
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: not recognize it. We may even not like or detest
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: things that are happening. But if you step back and
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: use what he called spiritual eyes to look at what
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: has happened, you recognize that there was a purpose for
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: everything that took place. And in finding that purpose, you
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: have this understanding and sense of peace. And I've come
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: to a point in my life where I am so peaceful,
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: literally peaceful about everything. Whatever challenge comes, they'll be resolution to.
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: Whatever problem comes, there'll be a solution for and whatever
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: sadness comes, there will be a healing from that sadness.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: So that's the way I look at life right now.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: Well, I have to say this, Dad, I feel like
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: every decision you made by the Be for me, our family,
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: your own life, You've had this intrinsically spiritual guidance through
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: every decision. Am I right on that?
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: Yes? Absolutely? Yeah?
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And that doesn't come that comes naturally right, that
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: doesn't come out of the air.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: I think that every one of us, every human being,
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: every sentient human being, has the capability of receiving spiritual
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: divine depending upon your faith and religion guidance, and that
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: this guidance is there, we just have to listen to it.
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: I call it the inner voice. Some people who are
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: practitioners of psychic practices call it clair audience, clear hearing,
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: and the inner voice is sometimes described as the soft,
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: quiet voice within the voice that shouts at you, the
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: internal voice that says you gotta do this or take
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: this action, or whatever it might be. That's the voice
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: of ego. But the voice of spiritual guidance is that soft,
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: clear voice. Please do this. This is something that's important
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: for you to do, in that soft, gentle tone, loving tone.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: And every time I've listened to one of those voices
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: and followed that, the results have been exactly what we're
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: meant to be in a positive way. So to anyone
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: listening to our conversation right now, if you hear that message,
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: that inner voice, I'll give you a quick example. You
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: and I and your mother were on a local highway
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: several years ago. We were in the extreme left lane,
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: and we were traveling at the speed limit, which on
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: that highway is forty five or fifty miles an hour.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: And the voice came and said, you must leave this
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: lane now. And I always listened to the voice. You'll
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: remember this. And I got out of that lane and
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: went into the middle lane. And within five seconds there
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: was a multiple car accident in the lane that we
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: had left, and had we stayed there, we would have
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: been in the middle of that multiple car accident. To
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: that voice, it wasn't shouting at me. It says, you
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: must leave this lane now, in a very soft, reassuring voice.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: You remember that, I, of course do.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: And as I'm talking about as we're talking about this,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: I think of is an instinct. I feel like instinct
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: is God's instinct for you? I mean, do you hear
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: sort of that? When you talk about spiritual voices, is
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: the voice of God talking to you as well? I
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: have to ask, or what are you hearing?
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: My source is that it's an angelic voice. When I
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: say spiritual guide, it can be angels, it can be
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: those who have passed before us, family and loved ones
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: who have passed before us and have come to give
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: us messages. But I believe it's all divinely inspired.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: And we know New Jersey is not the easiest place
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: to travel, so that's where that took place. There is
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: a distinction, then, between instinct and the spiritual voice, isn't there?
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: I think so yah. When I talk about the spiritual voice,
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: we're talking about something that comes through the through God,
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: through purpose of God. When we talk about instincts, that's
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: something that's built into us. For example, we have an
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: instinct to run away from danger. It's the flight what
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: they call the fight or flight instinct. So if you're
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: presented with something, it gets the adrenaline going, which is
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: the instinctual chemical, the adrenaline within the body, and you
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: can either fight or you can run. And that's something
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: we're born, that's inborn in all of us. But these
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: other messages are something that comes from the outside. It
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: comes from the divine. In whichever way your listeners understand
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: the divine, you know, it's funny. One of the things
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: that I learned in the Interfaith Seminary in the New
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: Seminary was that there's a version and iteration of the
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: Golden Rule in virtually every religion, in virtually every faith,
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: there's something that says, do unto others as you'd have
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: them do unto you, Love thy neighbor as thyself. If
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: every human being in every faith practice that basic tenet,
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: that golden rule, what a different world this would be,
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: wouldn't it?
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: Oh? One hundred percent? And that's it even seems like
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: it shines through even in the political sphere, right because
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: it just seems like we're not doing unto others as
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: we've done to us, even in politics. So there's that
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: as well. Now, Dad, I have to ask you, this
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: is the experience as a nine to eleven chaplain with
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: my mom Laurie's su Brockway in the book, or can
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: you weigh in on that as we just commemorate. I
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: can't believe twenty three years later, that's hard to believe
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: at times.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: Flying I wrote a poem about nine to eleven, which
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: is in the book, but it doesn't really it speaks
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: to the fact that your mother and I not the poem,
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: but just the introduction says that your mother and I
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: were chaplains for the Red Cross after nine to eleven
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: another synchronous story. So nine to eleven I was out
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: in Billings Montana, attending a business conference, and your mother
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: was here back in New York. This is before we
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: were living together in her apartment on forty fourth Street,
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: up the block from the United Nations. And I had
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: the television watching the news and she had it on simultaneously,
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: and they broke into a bulletin that said that a
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: small plane had crashed into one of the towers at
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: the World Trade Center. And I said, look, what's happening
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: on television? They said a small plane. While we were watching,
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: the second plane hit, and we knew that this was
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: not a small plane. We knew that this was a
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: terror attack. So I suggested to her you were in
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: school out of Long Island, and I suggested to her
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: that she find a way of getting out to you
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: as soon as possible safely. That both of you lived
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: in an apartment up the block from the United Nations.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: And I said that United Nations area. I hope nothing
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: happens there, but in any event, she was able to
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: arrange that you got picked up and taken to a
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: safe place. And I took the first plane out of
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: Montana was that Friday, came into Newark Airport, and as
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: I was flying into Newark Airport. We could still see
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: the smoke rising from the wreckage of the World Trade Center.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: Was pretty horrible to see. And I took a cab
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: back from Newark back into Manhattan. It was reunited with
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: your mother, and she had mentioned that she had gone
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: down to the Red Cross and volunteered to be a
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: chaplain that there was chaplaincy training that Saturday, and so
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: I joined her in that chaplaincy training. For the next
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: several weeks, we spent our days doing our day jobs,
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: and every evening went to the Family Assistance Center that
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: the city had established on the west side of Manhattan
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: and a peer and listened to people who were waiting
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: for word of their loved ones. Some of the stories
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: were amazing and helping them through their grief process, and
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: also some of the first responders were there. Just there
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: were so many synchronicities and so many beautiful stories at
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: a time of such horror, that so much love and
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: empathy emerged, and that we became unified as a people,
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: as a city, as a people, as Americans, and I
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: wish we had that same unity today.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: I do feel like we've lost empathy along the way,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: and feel like you are very empathetic and does the
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: book help people find their empathy side of the brain
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: if you will, like, does this book teach empathy circles
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: and rings?
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: Empathy is something that is within each of us. It
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: has to be engendered and has to be brought out.
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: And there are a few of the poems touch on
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: the concept of listening and empathy and compassion. But empathy
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: is something I believe that each and every sentient human
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: being is born with. And sometimes it's shut off and
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: sometimes it's turned on. It's a question of just opening
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: your heart and opening your soul and extending and reaching
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: out to others and sharing again that golden rule. You
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: see someone who's sad, listen to them, give them compassion,
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: giving them that empathy. You see someone who is in
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: need of something. A quick example, you go into a
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: grocery store and you see someone, an elderly person trying
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: to reach to the very top shelf to get something.
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: They can't do it, and you always offer first you
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: don't do it, you say may I help you get that?
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: And you'll always see a smile and say yes, thank
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: you so much, even a surprise smile, because unfortunately a
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: lot of people don't do this today, when you will
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: go out of a door, hold the door open for
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: someone coming out behind you. This is something my mother
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: taught me as a child, and unfortunately we don't see
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: a lot of that today, little acts of kindness, and
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: that's where the empathy is engendered, where this concept of
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: the golden rule really resides. Just do unto others as
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: you would have them do unto you, do unto you.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: My grandma now is definitely an impetus for this writing.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: The passing is an impetus for this this poem. And
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: I've often wondered how you've been able to grieve, because
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: when I'm more around each other, I don't see you. Know,
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: I don't know how you are grieving, and if you
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: are still are a grieving the loss of your mom,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: we never get over the loss of our parents.
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: Well, let me tell you something about that. I know
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: that your dad passed last year. My mom passed in
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty. One of the things that you come to
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: recognize is that grieving doesn't have to last forever. Memories
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: will last forever. And so anytime I have a situation
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: that brings me a thought of sadness about my mother,
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: I start remembering all of the wonderful times that we
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: had together, the holidays, the gifts that we shared, the
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: lessons that she taught me when I was growing up,
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: which are so fundamental to my life. Just thinks of
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: that nature and it'll bring a smile to my face,
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: and rather than sadness, it'll bring back the memories and
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: the joy and the blessings that my mother gave to me.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: Well, and I know she's gonna bead with you in
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: the coming weeks as you have another big part of
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: this journey which I will be supporting you through, and
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: I feel like this book will help you read as
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: you go through this next part. What is next for you, Dad.
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: Well, you're referring to the fact that I'm having THEE
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: replacement surgery coming up next week, and it's something that
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: I've been looking forward to. I'm a very, very mobile person,
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: as you know, and having had this nego bad has
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: sort of impeded my mobility a little bit, not a lot,
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: but a little bit, and I'm looking toward quick recovery
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: and getting out and running again.
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: Can you weigh in publicly about Solary. I know there's
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: been a lot to talk of that is that next
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: as well, once all the recovery time is complete.
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: Fifteen or sixteen years ago, a business associate of mine
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: who knew about the spiritual work, who knew about my
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: ordination and interfaith ministry and all of the other stuff
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: that I did, the healing work that I did the reiki,
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: came to you one day and said, how do you
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: balance the fact that you have this day job in
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: industrial technology of the welding industry and so on and
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: this other stuff that you do. And without even thinking
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: about it, I said, the day job pays my salary.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: I said, the other work pays my solary. This word
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: solary came out of me. Your mother insisted that I trademarket,
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: and I did for what it's worth. But the next
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: book that I'm working on will be a story about this.
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: It's called solary The Compensation of Spirit.
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: That is pretty deep, and I'm looking forward to that.
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: But I just want to say thank you, Dad for
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: now twenty five plus years of this family really not
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: just a related it's a family that we've created, that
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: you've created, and I want to thank you for that,
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: for bringing Mom and I into your world twenty five
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: years ago plus.
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: Alex I've always referred to you as my son. I
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: ever said you were my step son. And what I've
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: come to recognize is you are the son of my spirit.
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: So thank you.
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: That's very touching to leave on that note. But we
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: will have you back once the recovery time and we're
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: praying for your surgery to be you know, smooth, and
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: the recovery time and then back on the writing trail, right, absolutely, Dad,
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: Victor Furman, doctor Victor Furman as well. Love you so much,
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: and thanks for doing the One Leg Up Network. And
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: one other thing is thank you for inspiring me to
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: create the ability portion of this because you, you and
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: I sat down during the pandemic and said, how can
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: we make this something more than just a podcast. I
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: think you've really instilled that in me the last four years.
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: And and I think I came up with the slogan
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: one Leg Up with Alex Garett is right.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: It's right, yep, yep, it was it was Yes, that
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: was all you as well.
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I'm a little bit of a marketing guy,
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: so I can figure these things out.
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: It is marketable.
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: Well.
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: I love you so much, Dad, and thanks for all
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: your guidance. Love and care the last twenty five plus years,
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: and we keep going.
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: Alex I love and adore you. My son, I love
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: and adore you.