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It was early spring 1965 in Long Island, New York. I was a sophomore at Manhasset High School. It was early evening and I had just arrived home from another exhausting Lacrosse practice of our championship varsity Lacrosse team. Just as I entered the large front entrance way to our home…. Disaster hit!!! My mother, who had had bouts of severe manic depression over her life attempted to commit suicide in front of my very eyes. The Viet Nam war was raging, the country was being torn apart economically and politically by the direct and indirect effects of the military conflict. I was doing poorly in school, my parents were continuing their dysfunctional marriage and my high school world was filled with a dense, at times, overwhelming fog that ebbed and flowed depending on the grade on the most recent quiz, the condition of the parental relationship which regularly effected the environment of me and my two younger brothers and my performance on the Lacrosse field. Most of my high school days were made of patterns of academic failure caused by the fact that while I was an avid reader, I would not pick up a school book to study.. I was certainly not an anointed one by my high school professors at this, this highly regarded, academic high school. This story may sound familiar to hundreds of readers retrospectively and perhaps currently… It is not necessarily unique to our society, our world. What is unusual is the tale that unfolded, through the years whic helped turn lemons into lemonade. Something that could not have been done without the existence of heroes and mentors that helped me and thousands of others turn this story, as it progresses, into a story of success. In our blog, over the next year we will discuss and discover the concept of success. We will examine what success may be, what it is not, what are the habits of successful people, and how to acquire these common sense principles that will, without doubt, lead to greater happiness in your life. Lacrosse, in the formative stages of my life was the only real ray of sunlight that I had. It could have been, I guess, football, soccer, music or journalism. The point is that Lacrosse or any other of these activities are merely the vessel to hold the secrets, the wisdom to learning how to achieve success. It provided me, and thousands of us an outlet for our nervous energy and the many other things that “ail us”. It was the vehicle to hook my boot straps to, to move ahead. Sports, in this case, Lacrosse allowed me to learn the habits of what it takes to become successful and a winner. Experientially, it helped me learn that in sports as in life, there is usually only one winner. There are no trophies for last place! To win, we had to learn, perhaps new habits which would lead to winning and success not only in the sports field but on the field of life. The Hero of today’s writing and holder of this knowledge during the early years of my high school Lacrosse career was Richie Moran. Richie is a seven time Championship NCAA Division 1 Varsity Lacrosse coach from Cornell University who was my Lacrosse coach at Manhasset, before he moved on to Cornell. I can happily say that I played for Richie in high school and against him in college. My Ithaca College Varsity Lacrosse team which I played for, scrimmaged Cornell regularly. Not successfully, I might add. Richie, as a successful Long Island coach taught us these 9 tenants of success. These are:

Always look your opponent in the eye.

Be accountable.

Assist your team in achieving success.

Play your best with strong desire.

Exhibit good sportsmanship.

Respect others.

Be aggressive, yet in control.

Lead by example.

Seek and reach your goal.

In the months to come we will expand on these tenants of success and happiness provided by real people, even some that you may know. We will build on the following definition of success. (Miriam Webster) “The fact of getting or achieving wealth, respect or fame”. In my book, I provide a slightly different definition: Success is the achievement of a predetermined Noble goal.

Join me next time to read about… THE KEYS TO SUCCESS !

Heroes Alongside Us by Eric F. Rieseberg January 15 2015 I am honored to have been invited to write periodically on the theme of everyday heroism and success which I deeply discuss in my newly published book “Heroes Alongside Us, One Man’s Tale of Unlikely Success and The Men who Made It Possible”. Success….a term and concept that many of us spend a lifetime to achieve but spend precious few hours really defining in our minds what the term and concept really means. Many of us follow a pre-defined template provided to us by our parents and society that usually involves the word money. We follow this “Rainbow” for years and decades only to find that when we reach the end of that rainbow that the pot of gold is not there, or if it is, it is clearly not what it was “cracked up to be”. This recognition usually comes way too late in life or we have made some severely wrong turns to late leave a legacy of success for ourselves, our family and love ones. In my periodical writings over the next year we will discuss, the definition of success, both societal and personal. We will share the direct quotes and guidance from those who have clearly, year after year established a pattern of success, which has led to happiness and a noble life. These positive patterns of the real life men interviewed have helped thousands of other people worldwide lead a noble, successful and happy life, full of satisfaction. These articles are not for the lazy or the sloths. They discuss the patterns used by many as the keys to success. These patterns are not ones that are being taught, necessarily, by society today. They are age old characteristics of the wise and wonderful… to do a job right, get there early, work hard, stay late and do it all over again the next day… distinguish yourself from the rest of the pack. We use the concepts of success and good character taught by well-known businessmen, NCAA Division 1 college coaches, theologians and award winning leaders in the arts. The writings will follow chapter by chapter the book “Heroes Alongside Us” and will encompass the philosophical thoughts and discussions of well known writer, Richard Rohr, Theodore Roosevelt, Pastor Todd Weston of River Of Life Church here in Florida, Kurt Hahn and others. The writing will fully discuss the concept of experiential learning that is clearly lacking today’s very bright, sometimes very well educated (academically) overly programmed youth with little real world experience at a time way past time. The concept that the learning of riding a bike involves the very act of falling off and then quickly getting back on the bicycle, skinned knees and all is a major theme. Follow the book along and join us next for the first real step in becoming a Hero to someone else. Seek a hero… be a hero! Eric F. Rieseberg