| I've got some bad news for you; you won't get the | | | | TODAY! |
| opportunity to read this incredible book entitled The | | | | Follow the advice of Napoleon Hill; "Don't wait. The time |
| Stevedore in the White Fedora. This novel, filled to the | | | | will never be just right." |
| brim with stirring passages, was going to captivate | | | | Please, don't wait, or your story might sound like this |
| your imagination and take you on a breathtaking | | | | one ... |
| adventure to some of the most infamous ports of the | | | | On Wednesday, December 3, 2003, I walked into |
| world. Replete with intrigue, passion, action, suspense, | | | | Margarita Pizza to buy one of their award-winning |
| drama, and hot romance, this book was assuredly | | | | traditional Italian pizzas (best in Montreal in 1999). I've |
| going to reach the top of the best-sellers list. And the | | | | been stopping there for the same reason every other |
| ensuing movie based on that captivating story was | | | | week for the last 30-some years. But there was |
| going to rivet you to your seat to the point you would | | | | something different there that day. For the first time |
| forget all about your popcorn and cola. | | | | ever, Attilio, the owner, was not behind the counter. |
| The only problem is ... the book has not been written | | | | A friendly woman informed me that she and her |
| yet. And it never will be. That's because Isaac Will, who | | | | husband had just acquired the business a few days |
| had the whole splendid script in his head and who kept | | | | earlier. After owning the business for forty years, |
| promising himself he was going to take time off to | | | | 76-year-old Attilio Janiello finally decided to sell it and |
| write it someday, died of a heart attack four days ago. | | | | enjoy the fruits of his labor. And from what I heard, the |
| Mr. I. Will's funeral will take place at 3:30 today, in | | | | "fruit" was very large. |
| Somerset Cemetery. | | | | The deal was signed and money changed hands on |
| Those who knew him well selected for his tombstone | | | | the previous Friday at 4 PM. His friend told me that on |
| a fitting poem by James Albery: | | | | the way home from the bank that afternoon, Attilio |
| He slept beneath the moon, | | | | stopped at a travel agency to enquire about plane |
| He basked beneath the sun, | | | | tickets for a trip to Italy he was planning to make in the |
| Lived a life of going-to-to soon, | | | | coming months. |
| And died with nothing done. | | | | On Tuesday December 2nd, at about 8 AM, while |
| Most people think of cemeteries as sad places. I do | | | | having breakfast with his wife and reading his Corriere |
| too, but for a different reason. When I drive by one, I | | | | Italiano, Attilio died of a heart attack. He enjoyed the |
| don't just see grass, trees, flowers, monuments, and | | | | fruits of 40 years of labor for less than 100 hours ... |
| mourners. I see unwritten books that were going to | | | | And yet, I've heard since that visit that he was willing |
| enthrall their readers and unfinished plays that would | | | | and ready to sell ...about 15 years earlier. He was |
| have enchanted their viewers. Never written goodbye | | | | ready, but he didn't go... Perhaps he was waiting for the |
| letters. Never started paintings and sculptures. Never | | | | time to be just right...He waited too long. |
| completed love songs that would have made your | | | | What is YOUR biggest wish, YOUR lifelong dream ... |
| eyes mist over. It was Oliver Wendell Holmes who | | | | and what's keeping you from going after it? Are you |
| wrote, "Most people go to their graves with their songs | | | | waiting for "everything in your life to be right?" Waiting |
| still unsung." | | | | to have "all your ducks in a row?" It'll never happen. |
| Many people are saddened by the daily news of | | | | You're never going to "have it all together." That's like |
| disappearing species that will never come back. But | | | | trying to eat once and for all. |
| equally sad is the fact that each and every day, | | | | Follow Robert J. Ringer's advice; "Action today! |
| around the world and around the clock, thousands of | | | | Develop the habit of living in the present. The best day |
| ideas, projects, products, inventions, and solutions | | | | really is today, so get started now, no matter what |
| disappear forever when they are buried with the | | | | your problems are and no matter how long you've |
| people who died without ever realizing their dream. I | | | | already procrastinated." |
| agree with what Stephen Sondheim said on this; "A | | | | Here's the best recipe I know for getting rid of |
| dream is just a dream, if it's only in your head. If no one | | | | procrastination. It's two words: DOn't waIT! |
| gets to see it, it's just as good as dead." | | | | So my friends, to use the words of Nike(R)'s |
| So I beg of you, if you have something inside you that | | | | marketing people, whatever it is that will make your life |
| you want to bring out into the world, start working on it | | | | what it was intended to be, the reason for which you |
| now! Today. Action today, my friends. ACTION | | | | showed up on this planet, go ahead, just do it! |