It is appropriate that the title of this piece embodies a classic question that we and the other great philosophers ask.. Translated from the Latin, it is, “Where are we going/” The general answer is “ Damned if I know.”

The real question that we should ask ourself is, still in the original Latin, “Quo Vadis?” Translated: Where are you going?” The best of us wrestle with that one.

Life is a game of moves, like in a game of chess. The problem is: many of us checkmate ourselves without even having played the game.

I sat in a roomful of young friends during the holidays and was faintly amused while the group funk peeled off into a downward spiral.

To hear them say it, it wasn’t enough that the Chinese were going to break us, but we would soon be invaded by more and more illegals at or near the southern border. The dollar would slide down into a bottomless pit, never to surface again and pensions would be cancelled and medical benefits would run out before they had a chance to collect on it, and ...

This went on for a good, or bad, twenty minutes until my hot collar could no longer tolerate the heat.

“Enough!” I barked.

I then lit into them in a lengthy tirade, covering everything that had them flummoxed. What I always enjoy about my tirades is that a lot of the stuff I say is also new to me. I seem to go around absorbing bad stuff and then out of nowhere comes my soft version of a primal scream, this time to an aghast audience.

There was a dozen of them ranging in age from 20 to 23, on a Christmas break from some of the most prestigious universities and colleges in the country.

I had just begun to vent, when the phone rang. It was my seven year old grandson, Zander, wishing me and Grandy Carol, a Merry Christmas.

His dad, Marl my step son, lives in Bellingham, with his wife, Teresa a very bright woman who never tires of exchanging ideas with Marl and their genius son. a product of their unique genetic blend

Carol got on the line with him. “Grandpa, Grandy!” he exulted, “I just beat daddy at chess and he only had to give me a couple of handicap moves.” Zander has played chess since he was five

“Wow!” I exclaimed,. “That’s great. “

His words streaming breathlessly., he shouted. “Let me put you on speakerphone so I don’t smear food on the phone, and so mommy and daddy can hear us.”

I could hear his father laughing in the background. “Hey, I don’t even know how to put on speakerphone.”

It was a joyous holiday call.

“That was Zander, my seven year old grandson,” I told them when I hung up.“You are all especially gifted but you had better watch out. He is being raised absolutely convinced that he can do everything.”

They all laughed indulgently. “:No, I mean it,” I said. “I have heard you low-rating this country and your chances of making it. That’s unacceptable.

I inhaled a long breath while they settled into an indulgent silence. Then, I took each of them one by one, and analyzed their situation as best I knew it. I will use fictitious names.

“Anna,” I said to a high scoring senior at the University of Texas., “You are studying Business, and International Law. Your father is a successful Import- Exporter in Miami. You are a Cuban American. Need I say more?

She was a star college soccer player so it was acceptable to use a sports metaphor.

“Plan on a lifting of the embargo with Cuba in a few years, This will position you to go into business with your dad, going back and forth between this country and Cuba.

It’s more than helping your dad. You will be nation building in the best sense of the word.”

She frowned, “I don’t know. That’s a tall order.”

Your best role model for what I mean is Vince Young, your own Texas quarterback in the national championship against USC in the Rose Bowl a couple of years back.,

USC was supposed to win that game in a walk, but Texas had played them almost to a draw and now, Texas was on the USD 9 yard line with the fourth down coming up. Young was faced with the almost impossible task of scoring a winning touchdown in the final 19 seconds of the game.

He took the snap, backed up., and saw that USC had all of his receivers covered. He could have justifiably folded right then and there. .Instead, he tucked the ball under his arm and ran the 9 yards through the best defense in the country to a winning touch down.

Anna was silent. “Why are you telling me this?” She asked.

“Because,” I said, “ Like your new role model, Vince Young, few will believe you can do it. BUT, as soon as you establish the export-import business in Cuba, expand it to the rest of South America. Be in the front ranks of enterprising Americans who build an economic Trade Bloc in the Western Hemisphere.”

Her eyes were shining with fascination, I kept talking.

“It will take you, perhaps, ten years if you do it right and it will insulate us from those big bad bogeymen Chinese that all of you think are unstoppable.

They will have their sphere of influence in Asia, and we will have ours. There are plenty of spoils to go around without us killing each other. But hurry, they are beginning to invade the Western Hemisphere.

I turned to Adam who wanted his own talk show. Seeing that it was his turn to be on, he spoke up, this time in the form of a challenge.

I braced myself, because he was showing promise as a talker, in the air checks he had sent me. He had a booming voice driven by a brilliant mind.

“Okay, I have one for you,” he said to me. “How would you settle the Illegal immigrant problem?”

I laughed. “I was expecting a more formidable challenge from you. It’s simple.”

He was not amused.

I ignored his glare, and bore on.

“The Immigrant issue is ripe for show boating by pols and talkers. Both are playing to their constituencies, They each have a reason for keeping the issue alive. by coming up with extreme solutions. It makes ratings for the talkers, and keeps the money coming in to the Washington coffers, but, the answer has always been there.”

His expressive eyes. were staring into mine, like a fighter in a stare-down with his opponent before the opening bell. “Okay,” he said in his radio voice. “Tell us.”

“First off,”I said, “Find out who and where the illegals are, and give them biometric I.D. cards. This gives all of those American entrepreneurs who claim they need them to get the chance to hire whom they need. There will be a rush for the jobs, and soon they will be filled. The solution will be market-driven. Those who can’t find jobs will fade back to their homes. Incidentally we don’t give them citizenship en masse.

Adam asked the logical question. “What do you do with the children born on this side?”

“They will have to go back with their parents. Which reminds me: the 14th Amendment is a phony issue., It can be narrowly defined the way it has been, automatically giving citizenship to children born here, but there is a broader interpretation to the Constitution that does not grant them automatic citizenship.

“You speak native Spanish. Why so tough on the immigrants?”

“Using them as political pawns is crueler,” I replied. “ What I propose isn’t racist.. I would be just as tough on them if they were Swedes. They are busting the medical system and other services that are stretched to the breaking point, as it is.”

“Besides, most of them don’t want to be citizens. They just want the benefits. They rightfully take the money they earn, and send it home. Billions of dollars, that would ordinarily have remained in our economy, are lost that way. It has to stop.”

A silence fell over the room. Finally one of the future jocks challenged me.

“Why didn’t you ever want to own a station or run one?

“Herb Siegel, is the reason.” I shot back, without hesitation.”

There were confused smiles.

I had been waiting to tell them about him, though I hadn’t known how to bring him into it. Siegel was the major influence in my life.

Ella, a future Captain of Industry, spoke up? :”Who is Herb Siegel?”

“Herb is a Master of the Game. I worked for him years ago, right after I got out of the army. I found him to be totally charming, a man who carried his brilliance lightly.”

One of the Economics guys spoke up, “Why haven’t I heard of him?”

He didn’t go after public glory. He was not a man who went out of his way to gain attention He was one of those rare people who commanded respect and attention just by entering a room.”

“It worked out fine. The Who’s Who people he bested in business deals probably didn’t want him publicized, either.“

“He was a kingmaker, the equal of Rupert Murdoch, Sumner Redstone, Marvin Davis, Barry Diller, and the other giants. Herb Siegel was the only man ever who owned three movie studios at once.”

“Tell us more about him.” They all said, almost in unison.

“When you return to school, look him up” I countered. .”He is the greatest known unknown of this era.”

I was delighted at their suddenly aroused fascination, but smiled ,and darted my eyes toward the door, indicating that the session was over. We exchanged embraces and went our separate ways..

Next week, more about Herb Siegel and how, years ago, in the natural course of things, he gave us a major clue to the solution in the tug of war over royalties between the good people of radio and music, snarling at each other like two dogs over an old bone.

Yep, I was there when young Herb began making history.

Gary Allyn contributes one about the Mexican stand-off……….

Jose and Carlos are panhandling on the street. Jose drives a Mercedes, lives in a mortgage-free house and has a lot of money to spend. Carlos only brings in 2 dollars a day. Carlos asks Jose how he can bring home a suitcase full of $10 bills every day. José says. “ Look at your sign. It says: I have no work, with a wife and 6 kids to support.” Carlos says, “Yes, and what does you sign say?? Jose replies “It reads I only need another $10.00 to move back to Mexico.”


If you can dream it, you can do it……Walt Disney