Went to friends graduation party. Beverly is the mother of three, WWW, EEE, and www ( remember Paula told me not to publish children's name) wife to John. She has overcome cancer and in her midlife pursued a degree in accounting. She gave a marvelous toast attributing her success to family and friends who urged her on and supported her in her goal. I was moved not only by her success but also by her humility in pointing out all the folks who have influenced her to get to this joyous day.
So today's memory is about one individual who urged me on in the past. Mr. Scala, a 7th grade Social Studies teacher. ( I have mentioned him before). In the NYC public school system there was at the time and still are today specialty schools To attend one of these schools you had to take a pretty rough entrance exam. It was at the impetus of Mr. Scala that I signed up and took that examination. As a result I was accepted into one of the most prestigious public boys high school, Brooklyn Technical High School. While that meant that I had to walk 1/2 mile to the bus stop, take the bus to the subway and take two subways lines across two boroughs then walk 5 blocks from the subway to the school. In the end it was worth it all. I believe I got one of the finest high school education at that time. Now this was not a intimate school. the building itself was ten stories high. The auditorium was the second largest in the city, topped only by Radio City Music Hall. Our graduation class was 1000 in number. We graduated out of our school auditorium in shifts . It was a proud day for me and my family but it would not had come about if Mr. Scala, a social studies teacher at JHS 218 had not urged me on. Thank you Mr. Frank Scala, wherever you may be!
To quote John Dunne (who Mr. Scala had us read in 7th grade) "No man is an island entire of itself "
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