View From the Chair

As part of our retirement planning during the past year, my wife Maggie and I finally got to the section in the paperwork where we are asked to make decisions about “end of life,” including funeral arrangements. This type of thinking and planning can be uncomfortable, unsettling and just plain weird. Where I grew up in the South Bronx, in New York City, we lived day-to-day and were considered poor or “ghetto” people.   Morris Heights , South Bronx circa 1964 No one I knew in the old neighborhood was taught to think about a life span from “cradle to grave,” or as we say in business when referring to the life cycle of a product, from “end-to-end.”  Most of us in the old neighborhood were lucky to get home safely, without being mugged or assaulted. I’m not a morbid person, but when you have a severe disability, such as a spinal cord injury (SCI), you have to work at leading a relatively healthy life. With SCI, however, there is always a “voice” in y

Last night [August 6], my wife Maggie and I joined thousands of James Taylor and Bonnie Raitt fans at Fenway Park , Boston’s celebrated baseball venue.  Fenway Park We didn’t know what to expect at the stadium as this was just the second time we were at the home of the Boston Red Sox. The first visit was about three years ago when I was on a business trip, and we attended a Boston-New York Yankees game at Fenway. The Sox beat the Yankees and a ball girl handed a foul ball to my wife. Disabled Fans Rocked Too….. James Taylor The weather was perfect for a summer evening in Boston, and we were directed to seats close to the front, just on the right side of the stage. We were escorted to a section where ablebodied people, wheelchair riders and other disabled concert fans were seated together. This made the venue seem more natural and inclusive, as the disabled weren’t segregated. As the evening progressed, the crowd began singing and dancing, as exp