With the temperament of the times and student protests and unrest in some colleges around the country, I felt it a responsibility to speak at Columbia University yesterday when asked by Joe Favorito a professor in their communications department.
To witness the rallies on what I consider sacred ground was a sight to behold. I consider it sacred ground because of the incredible people that have graduated from various programs in this great institution.
For me I love coming here because Lou Gehrig went to school here.
When I saw the great motion picture, The Pride of the Yankees they shot various scenes here in Columbia. The great actor Gary Cooper was so powerful in his depiction of Gehrig that I actually believed that he was the great Yankee.
Through the years I would befriend Cooper’s daughter Maria and she would educate me and tell me wonderful stories about her dad and his experiences in the making of The Pride of the Yankees.
When I asked Favorito what message I could possibly deliver he said the story of your life.
The story of the people that you feel have helped make you the person that you are today. The importance of true love in your life.
How have I been able to survive for 50 years in such a sometimes difficult profession?
Favorito said that it’s nothing different than the messages that I have delivered before with the exception that it’s a larger audience.
The only message and to me the most universal message was the fact that I have been able to survive because of the quality of love that I have received during the most difficult periods of my life. Times when I have fallen, people that you didn’t think would be there for you were!
To be able to show your heart and understand the true meaning of love so that you can sincerely share it.
I was able to express to these students that love is supposed to be the most important word in the world yet most people take it for granted.
One student asked me what has been the most important lesson that you have learned in your life.
I told them that that lesson came from a little kid who knew that he was going to die because he had cancer.
The little boy asked me that if in the time that he had left in this world if he would do one good thing a day would God let him go to heaven.
Today I wish that little boy would have asked these students and the so-called leaders of the world the same question… I think that may of possibly helped our world today.
If that little boy wasn’t in Heaven today, I would have brung him with me to Columbia.
