Another passion of my fathers'—horses and riding. He has taught many children to ride, in an arena behind the house. Part of his various volunteer activities include working with children from the juvenile system. While they learn to ride and handle all the gear, along with the care of horses, he talks to them, or lets them talk to him, or just lets them absorb the experience and its lessons.
This is one of his ways of giving back—letting kids know his story about growing up in the Bed-Sty section of Brooklyn and being raised by a single mother who worked as a nurses' assistant (that's my grandma in the photo), how he made it out through the Navy, his education through the G.I. Bill, working days while going to night school; doing all this while being a young father raising three babies in the projects of Queens, where my family started.
He lets his life story tell the tale of his success—through hard work and application, nothing is beyond ones' reach, and that there are no limits to how high one can achieve. If you can dream it, you can do it, but telling yourself you can is the first step.
