WhatGoesAroundComesAround_DavisRob

no stone unturned in his quest to find a solution that would achieve it. It
did not take long for people to figure out that Herb really didn’t have it
in for them, but rather was sincerely interested in their success.
The result, not too surprisingly, was that Herb’s ideas were usually
embraced so enthusiastically by the participants that they literally could
not fail. Whether or not his proposal was the best possible one for the
situation was less of a factor than the wholehearted enthusiasm he was
able to generate.
Herb, on his level and in his own way, did a lot of good and affected a
great many people in a positive way, including me. In a manner of
speaking, Herbert had a certain brilliance, and I was fortunate enough
to experience a good dose of it firsthand.
“How, How, How!” they wailed. “Why, Why, Why!” they cried. It
began when he was first admitted, choking, coughing and spitting, to the
hospital. The doctors said his lungs were full of gunk and unless he
stopped smoking, he would die. He stayed in the hospital for about two
weeks that first time. About two minutes after he left, he lit up.
In his close, personal world, Herbert had two grown children, a brother,
an ex-wife and three current or former girlfriends, all of whom he stayed
in touch and was friends with. In addition, he had many friends he’d
known anywhere from 40 years to 2 days who swore admiration,
adulation and affection in varying degrees, including me.
How could a guy who was so terrific, who obviously got so much joy
from life and who had so many people who adored him, be so selfdestructive
as to smoke after such a near disaster?
Well, that near disaster turned into another, then another, then another.
On a visit during one of these episodes, I was fixing Herb’s pillow so he
could sit up when I discovered a cigarette under the pillow. He was