telephone pole to jump and reach the bar
swinging below I stand paralyzed looking
up praying for a helicopter to lift me
up and rescue me
no such luck I was getting very hungry
so I finally take a breath and of course
a rope is attached around me and I jump
[Music]
never came close but it was exhilarating
inspiring to overcome the fear and I
made it safely to the ground how many of
you often say I shoulda woulda coulda
finding excuses to procrastinate this
experience helped me realize that if I
wanted to have the fullest life possible
I could no longer procrastinate beer has
been inhibiting my life in so many ways
but it was at this moment in my life
specifically that I had a petrifying
fear of flying in a small plane which
became very important because my darling
husband had just finally accomplished
his dream of becoming a private pilot
and of course he expected me to fly with
him
so remembering the experience of
overcoming the fear at the top of the
pole at which time I would walk up to
the air pres airplane concentrate all my
power into a clenched fist and say I aim
you have two choices you can walk away
from the plane or you can open the door
and step in and have a wonderful time so
that’s what I did and we had many
exciting trips near and far I even took
flying lessons okay but when asked if I
could land the plane I responded of
course but it may never fly again the
pole was one of the challenges that I
voluntarily accepted in Palm Springs
attending a two-week NLP that is neuro
linguistic programming with Tony Rogers
the summer of 1986 I was eight I was 57
yes 50 family a most the most memorable
challenges I was presented with was
walking on 40 feet of hot coals I did it
40 feet no burns I did it but of all the
activities that I can’t believe I did
and my husband when he found out he
shouted she did what was the challenge
to get all the way from Palm Springs and
accomplish a good deed we would leave in
the evening without any money credit
card ID and of course no cell phones who
knew what cell phones were in 1986 they
weren’t really any to my knowledge so
how does one make that journey well to
start
one sleeps on a sofa in a motel lobby in
Palm Springs and promises the manager
that I would rise and depart very early
in the morning when I wake up I had for
a coffee shop I didn’t think I look like
a beggar but I guess I was because I
literally begged for a cup of coffee and
a little piece of toast then the fun
really begins here tried me oh my god
57 years old and I’m here taiking i
stand at the side of the road with my
thumb in the air put it down nervously
the first few cars drive by until I
finally keep it up a par stop I jump in
and I move as far as way as I possibly
can from the heavyset driver
it takes three separate rides to arrive
at the intended destination for what
well my group had agreed to meet at an
elementary school in LA at a specific
time arranged with a principal to
perform good deeds we all arrived safe
and sort of hungry and teach several
classes a smattering of cool NLP sits in
wisdom now why did I put myself through
all of this because at age 57 I realized
it was never too late to reinvent my
life so thank you Tony for your fear
but that that kind of thinking had never
been a part of a life for girls of my
generation so in 1947 I attended Hofstra
College well known now as Hofstra
University since Trump and Clinton just
debated there after one year at age 19 I
quit to do what many women did in those
days become a wife a little later on an
army wife and their mother of three sons
which meant I was juggling carpools for
literally Boy Scouts music records
religious school tennis lessons doctors
dentists marketing cooking even putting
my boys hair they had long hair they
were afraid to go to the barber so I was
also a Cub Scout leader and rule mother
for my boys
saving my sanity during these days was a
design job for two or three thanks to a
home study course from the New York
School of Design but it was never quite
enough so one night after playing
mahjong with some girlfriends I started
thinking that there had to be more
stimulating things more interesting
things something I could be rather than
consumed so much coffee so much pain and
engaged in so much idle chatter topping
it off with having trouble falling
asleep it was in I made a decision that
instead of mahjongg I would spend one
evening a week at school and continue my
journey to earn a college degree so I
enroll at Santa Monica City College
followed by UCLA followed by Cal State
Northridge whereas I finally gather all
my credits
and after possibly setting a record for
the longest time to get a BA degree 29
years I I earned a bachelor degree at
age 49 strengthening my credo that it is
never too late but it was really only
the beginning of fully understanding
what that credo meant so I continue to
dive headlong into education to make my
contribution to society I attend a
two-year certification program and Human
Services at the University of Judaism
and through that program I choose to
volunteer at Planned Parenthood teaching
teaching sex and sex based x6x and my
method was I carry charts and all as a
display bananas a horrifying thought to
my three sons I taught this as many many
schools throughout the Los Angeles area
and in 1994 I also created a weekly
support group called the Tuesday Club
for troubled students at stoner Avenue
school but that wasn’t enough either so
I studied to become a clinical
hypnotherapist what fun making my kids
count backwards and leave out a number
and that was at the age of 70 but
apparently there were things waiting for
me to test my never too late
credo one of the joys of my life was
having my first grandchild born on my
own 57th birthday I’m sharing the
birthday with her for the past 30 years
it was a very first fairy present ever
the best
but Chiara had been avoiding a bot mixer
usually done for girls at age 13 tired
of hearing her father’s nagging at age
15 she tells him she would do it if I
would do it with her
so sure I would say no she marches into
the kitchen and says grandma I’ve
decided I’ll have a Bar Mitzvah if you
do it with me much to her surprise and
chagrin consistent with my never too
late
philosophy I smiled look at her and say
yes let’s do it
I see I think she was ready to shoot me
lots of study lots of partying she was
16 I was 73 it was a glorious memory in
2002 but the bearson family members
didn’t stop the next heir comes soon
after my son emails me friends of mine
told me about a school a cool master’s
degree course in spiritual psychology in
Santa Monica it would be perfect for you
I push back and finally give the excuse
no way I’d be 75 at the end of the
two-year course my son immediately
replies you’ll be 75 in two years even
he was right and he made it even more
compelling by offering to do it with me
that’s in this way because as a loving
mother my overriding thought was it’ll
help him so I’ll do it among my many
projects to school the most intense one
was to interview men and women in their
70s who was still accomplishing new
challenges Angela Lansbury she had
always been my hero and she graciously
invited me to her home for a two-hour
interview she’s definitely an
exceptional woman and with her
permission
I repeat her words to me you’re growing
you know and that’s a wonderful thing to
do at your time in your life I won’t say
age because ain’t really has nothing to
do with that well you and I are ageless
Thank You Angela those words continue to
inspire me so after two years of
incredible knowledge I walk across the
stage and receive my master’s diploma
seventy-five years after being born at
one of the most challenging times in
American history three months before the
Wall Street Crash of 1929 the beginning
of ten years of devastating depression I
swear I had nothing to do with it
although my father would tease me that
it was all my fault
men were jumping out of windows my
father lost his job
my mom is dead and I had to move in with
his parents gratefully we rose above
this as many other hard times including
my polio and being literally quarantined
in a Brooklyn Hospital as a result of
the polio epidemic in 1935 what was
faithfully tough was dealing as a young
girl with racial not racial but
religious discrimination I can still see
in my mind’s eye nasty little boys
following me to elementary school
throwing stones at me shouting dirty Jew
so in term Aqsa and remember seeing many
signs saying restricted my parents
explained that it meant meat that it
means we Jews and also blacks not
allowed while I was too young to
understand exactly what those signs and
restrictions meant it became very real
when I was denied entrance to Cornell
University in 1947 not because of my
grades they were good but because
soldiers returning for service and the
already small Jewish family quota became
smaller so at age 87 I’m still going to
school now enjoying an autobiography and
memoirs writing class at ember and
America’s College but this this is
important because I googled gratitude
and it’s something that is so helpful to
the body and the mind
I give gratitude what I for what I have
had and what I still have grateful for
my six grandchildren which is a reward
for not killing my boys when they drove
me crazy and grateful for the
opportunities to open doors walk through
experience life remembering with every
step that it is never too late
except when it is when you no longer can
climb Mount Everest visit the countries
on your bucket list wake up without pain
somewhere in your body or turn to a
grandparent parents siblings best
friends or even your husband hold their
hand tell them you love them or ask them
what you have been meaning to ask them
it ultimately will be too late for
everything and for everyone but in
between now and then
it is not it absolutely is not too late
so what are your cutter sugar waters no
matter your age
[Applause] [Music]