Things I Have Learned...at 71.

• nothing is free
• attitude is everything
• a sour attitude all your life will kill you (cancer is a good example)
• no one, absolutely no one, can or should tell you how to live when you feel good inside about who you are...
• hurt no one in any way as you go about your life and you will be ok.
• people who are negative all their lives wonder why they are alone, and often will ask you about that. Don't tell them the truth.
• Small children need love all the time, like little puppies, give them all you have, all the time, do not fail to do this.
• Today's children are being malnourished, beaten and neglected at home.
• Share your love, your fortune and your time with anybody you deem needs it.
• No one I know on their death bed ever told me they were sorry they didn't close more deals right before they died..
• Dogs are the only friends that love you without conditions, always, with disrespect, loyally, always and even until (and after death), this I have witnessed.
• Infidelity in marriage is rarely about sex, almost always about anger or resentment and is stupid. Talk to your partner, get professional help and work through it.
• Kiss and hug and make love often, it is impossible to be angry when you do this.
• The secret to a happy marriage union is simple, " Whatever makes you happy darling."
• Don't do ANYTHING that hurts, that from Dr. Ruth.
• I am not responsible for my childrens' behavior - they are. I am responsible for my continual and unabiding love for them.
• Trust is earned, and can be blown quickly. Remember Shakespeare's "Caesar." As Antony and Caesar walk through the Senate and observe the senators in quiet plotting, Antony advises, " Beware yon Cassius, he has a lean and callow look for he thinks too much and such men are dangerous."  Good advice.
• An old Jewish woman, a dear friend who has passed, once told me, Roger don't be afraid to make enemies. I have succeeded with out even trying. One of life's lessons I have found. You will without even trying.
• A kind word and a gun will get you more respect than just a kind word, or so said Al Capone. As for me, a kind word always worked well.
• "Peaceniks" who are against all wars, if they had their way, would be speaking: German, Japanese, Vietnamese, Russian, God knows what else and working in Gulags by now, wearing sampan hats and eating rice. But, then again, maybe that's what they really want. Who knows.
• I feel, by 2050 or so, America won't look, act, or run anything like it did the last century.
• Nietzsche was right - those who don't know their own history are condemned to repeat it. Even the Germans don't know that. Even some Germans don't know who NIETZSCHE is. (German philosopher).

My high school year book carried this homily about me, " Born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad." ( Alexander Dumas, Scaramouch, the Swordsman) They were right.
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