When Vicki and I started this blog, we went back and forth on what the right name was as we tried to find the right blend of authentic conversation and available domain name. We landed on Sharing the Heart of the Matter because it felt like it honored the space for story-telling and finding the essential pieces of life.
This episode of the podcast fits that description too because it’s a great story that points to a lot of things coming together to create a great outcome. It’s a conversation Vicki and I had with Dr. Gerald Stein about how a promise he made, and kept, did a whole lot of good.
Dr. Stein tells us how the story began in 1963 with a promise between 10 high school friends, including Bernie Riff, John Kamins, Harmon Greenblatt, Rich Adelstein, Steve Henikoff, Neil Rosen, Jeff Carren, Ron Ableman, and Gerald Stein, to meet again on January 1, 2000. And when they kept that promise, it led to the great good luck of becoming accidental philanthropists.
We get to hear how the whole story unfolded. How the softball team ended up as a scholarship team. And Dr. Stein’s wonderful conclusion that “if you have enough confidence in who you are, and a door opens, you are more likely to walk through it.”
This is a great episode about how the power of friendship can be harnessed to make a difference in the world. This rousing story will have you remembering that one person can indeed make such a difference, especially when we keep our promises. I know you’ll love it.
In the podcast, Dr. Stein mentions two Chicago Tribune pieces written about this story. Here are the links:
THE STORY BEHIND THE MEN ON THE MUSEUM STEPS (chicagotribune.com)
Jan. 1, 2000: Watershed day for Zeolites and Mather High (chicagotribune.com)
Episode 64: Knowing a Person with Vicki and Wynne – Sharing the Heart of the Matter
Search (and subscribe!) for Sharing the Heart of the Matter on Apple, Amazon, Spotify or Pocket Casts OR Listen to on Anchor Episode 29: Accidental Philanthropists with Dr. Gerald Stein
Links for this Episode:
Episode 29: Accidental Philanthropists with Dr. Gerald Stein on Anchor
Dr. Gerald Stein’s blog on WordPress: Dr. Gerald Stein
Want more with Dr. Stein? Check out Episode 20: The Art of the Interview with Dr. Gerald Stein
The Heart of the Matter 
Promises, friendship, service to others. This is a new all-time fave episode, Wynne.
Dr. Stein’s heart resonates throughout…what a gift and a joy to listen. Thank you both! ❤️
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Thank you for your kind words, Vicki. You and Wynne make my heart very full.
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😉😉😉
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Likewise, Dr. Stein! Love doing these episodes with you because they leave me lifted!
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I can’t think of greater praise. Thanks, Wynne.
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Indeed, one person can change the world for good – y’all have!!!!!
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What an incredibly lovely compliment – just like you, Mary! Thank you!
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I love Dr. Stein’s story. A big reason for that is that I am also lucky enough to still have friendships that go back quite a long way. One of them also began in high school.
IDK anything about Dr. Stein’s personal life, today or ever, but if you have read my blog called Starting Over, you’ll see how the friends I have kept over the years supported me through the recent upheavals my personal life has endured. They continue to do so, for which I am eternally grateful.
Over the years when we could easily have lost contact with each other, I (often reluctantly and occasionally begrudgingly) made the (extra) effort to reach out to them. ( I think my high school friend took up this gauntlet at one point in the past, before I did. Surprisingly, she is also the one among my friends whose life has been most different from mine!)
Little did I know how much benefit I would reap from all the time and effort I put into maintaining those friendships. I think I can safely say these are truly my friends because, finally, now, I have noted with interest that many of them are making it a point to call and check on me occasionally. I wasn’t sure I would someday really feel this way about them, or believe I was deserving of their friendships.
I wish I knew why a couple of my college friends and those who I was closest to for probably 10 years after graduation, while we were all looking for Jewish husbands, were the only ones to reach out to me as my marriage was failing. I’m sure they didn’t know that at the time. Over the intervening five years I reached the decision to cut off contact with them because I felt in every conversation I had with them, I gave them more of an opportunity to express their gripes to me than vice versa. Neither of them ever took my advice when I told them what I would do in their situations and expressed the same gripes to me every time we talked.
Does all of this say more about me or my friends or both? Any idea about what it says? These replies might help me as I try to find, yet again, new friends where I now live!
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I’m so sorry it’s taken me this long to respond to this thoughtful comment. I’ve finally had a chance to click through and read a bit about you on your blog. You pose such great questions. Starting over is never easy – I wonder if it sparks fear in others. And I wonder if the friends who aren’t very good listeners in recent years were also not very good listeners in college?
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Looking back, I’m thinking maybe I didn’t have as much to say, back then. Or maybe I just didn’t have the self-confidence to say it?
Several people who have heard my starting over story have told me that I had a lot to handle all at once. I didn’t appreciate that that part of what I went through was probably more than most people would have to handle, hopefully.
Now that most of that is finally behind me, and possibly even more so then, I couldn’t and can’t have any fear because I look at it as having no other choice! One thing I can say, though, about both of these resurrected friends I have consciously decided to drop by the wayside going forward, is that both of them do seem to be more afraid of moving forward than I am.
Thanks, Wynne, for moving my introspection and retrospection about all this stuff, into a positive direction. It’s been a real confidence-booster!
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What a reflective reply. Your attitude that you can’t have any fear because you don’t have any choice is a powerful one. No wonder you’ve kept moving forward! I’m sending you blessings for your continued journey!
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