The Measure Of A Person’s Life

GUEST COMMENTARY

 

May 03. 2014 3:52PM
By Joe Leonardi Contributing Columnist 

• 

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Theodore Roosevelt

Recently, those of us who reside in Northeast Pennsylvania lost a giant of a man, former State Representative, former Congressman, and former State Senator Raphael “Ray” Musto.
Ray Musto had been considered a colossal political figure. He led a life dedicated to both his family and public service. His political life came to a conclusion a few years ago, and now, sadly, his physical life has ended. There has been, and more than likely will continue to be, much talk concerning Ray Musto the politician.
Can we quantify the life of a person? Yes, we can. In some cases it may be difficult, in others, not so much. The life and times of Ray Musto can be told very easily, by one simple theme — Ray Musto made a positive impact on people’s lives, all people.Northeast Pennsylvania is a much better place because Ray Musto was born, raised and stayed here. The positive impact of this man goes beyond his public life, for which the achievements are many. Ray Musto was simply a good man. He cared about people. He didn’t go out and tell people he cared, he went out and showed people he cared.Through legislation and personal actions, Ray Musto exhibited that one didn’t have to be ruthless to be successful, that one didn’t have to trumpet every achievement for them to be acknowledged, one didn’t have to be loud to be heard, and one didn’t have to be mean-spirited to be effective.

 

Ray Musto displayed to us all that results could be attained by being a good person, that good works would stand on their own, and that a good deed accomplished was all the reward one required.

 

Like us all, Ray Musto was not without flaws. Of course, we are all flawed, and to expect anything more from others is at best silly, and at worst — inhumane. We should, if we are of reasonable intelligence, accept and understand that the life of a person will be filled with successes and failures, with positives and negatives, and with flaws, but never with perfection. Those who expect perfection from others, will always end up with disappointment as their result. However, should we not consider the life of a person as a whole? And, should we not give considerably more weight to the positives of a person’s life, over the negatives?

 

Scores of people passed through the funeral home and church to pay their respects to Ray Musto. They were there to show reverence for what Ray did not only for them as individuals and as a community, but for all those whom he touched.

 

The critic in President Roosevelt’s quote is often a coward, and there have been many cowardly critics screaming about Ray Musto. Yet, if Ray Musto was still here and in full command of his faculties, he would not express anger or frustration, he would simply laugh and write it off as the price of a public life.

 

We can’t discuss Ray Musto without at least mentioning the cloud with which many have tried to blanket his good works. The cloud is there. But will it remain? As time passes, and people recall and remember the good that defined the man, the cloud will not simply lift, no — the rays of Ray’s good works will obliterate the cloud cover, and the positive man that he was, will then blanket his legacy in eternal sunshine.

WILK’s Steve Corbett — Pessimism Personified

********************************************************************************* Life is lived in color, but sometimes the answers remain black and white.   Aloha, Ciao and Stay Healthy,

Joe

 

Sometimes The Bastard Returns is available on Amazon.com Paperback: http://astore.amazon.com/fathfinobl-20/detail/1492763365 Kindle: http://astore.amazon.com/fathfinobl-20/detail/B00HGVPCXG Obesity Undone, is available in both paperback and kindle versions at amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Obesity-Undone-Beyond-Weight-Edition/dp/1477624333 For over three and half years I maintained a 130 pound weight loss, then last year I lost my way and found a relapse in obesity. I am discussing my battle with recidivism. **************The information, advice and opinions contained herein is for information purposes only and is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or disorder. The posting and videos do not apply to those with an underlying medical or hormonal condition. I advise anyone embarking on a weight loss and fitness plan to have a thorough medical evaluation. You want to be sure that you are physically able to exercise and you don’t have any underlying medical conditions No guarantees are made or to be implied.*********** Obesity Undone, is available in both paperback and kindle versions at amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Obesity-Undone-Beyond-Weight-Edition/dp/1477624333 http://www.amazon.com/Obesity-Undone-Beyond-Weight-Edition-ebook/dp/B008R8KA1Q and on Create Space https://www.createspace.com/3903024 ************The information contained herein is for information purposes only and is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or disorder. The posting and videos do not apply to those with an underlying medical or hormonal condition. I advise anyone embarking on a weight loss and fitness plan to have a thorough medical evaluation. You want to be sure that you are physically able to exercise and you don’t have any underlying medical conditions No guarantees are made or to be implied.************

Radio Commercial For Obesity Undone

For over three and half years I maintained a 130 pound weight loss, then last year I lost my way and found a relapse in obesity. I am discussing my battle with recidivism.
You can follow my blog http://www.fattheniftnow.wordpress.com

**************The information contained herein is for information purposes only and is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or disorder. The posting and videos do not apply to those with an underlying medical or hormonal condition. I advise anyone embarking on a weight loss and fitness plan to have a thorough medical evaluation. You want to be sure that you are physically able to exercise and you don’t have any underlying medical conditions No guarantees are made or to be implied.***********

Obesity Undone, is available in both paperback and kindle versions at amazon.com

and on Create Space https://www.createspace.com/3903024

Health pro shares weight loss success tips in new e-book

I penned the below guest posting, please visit

Hartke Is Online:

Fat Then Fit Now; A Life Beyond Weight Loss

by Dr. Joe Leonardi, D.C.

After dropping well over one hundred pounds, redesigning my physique and recapturing my health, many people said I should write a book. I pondered the idea and when I decided to finally draft a manuscript, just as many people said, “Another diet book?”

In life we face many decisions, some difficult, other not all that difficult. When I opted to pen a book, I didn’t want to write just another diet or fitness book. I wanted to come up with something completely different.  I have been told by those that have read it that it isn’t really a diet or exercise book. It is a lifestyle book.

I started by skipping all of the long-winded, scientific gobbledygook that fills the pages of so many other books. Read More »

A Setback or A Greater Challenge

On January 8th I wrote a post entitled Let the Fun Begin. It was my first week into high intensity training. I was moving heavier weights and increasing both my run distance and speed. I was a man on a mission. How was I to know that one short week later my training would get a little off track. In the preceding  posts, A Minor Setback — Not a Roadblock and Three Weeks from the Day, I chronicled what I was looking at as a setback in my training.

This morning something happened to change that way of thinking.

I was in the gym talking with a friend of mine. I had previously told him about my recent procedure and expressed how I was grateful nothing was wrong with my heart. He asked me how getting back into the grove was going and if I was still taking it easy. I told him good, but I conveyed to him that with the half-marathon a mere twelve weeks away and the strongman only three weeks later, I was feeling a bit unsettled about how I had lost over a month of training.

That is when I got the look.

There is one thing about weightlifting and weightlifters, when you complain, and I was, as much as I hate to admit it, complaining, to another lifter words never need be spoken. Weight training is unto itself about one thing; overcoming the pull of gravity on cold, unyielding iron. It is, every single workout, a challenge.

It is a challenge to embrace.

It is a challenge to welcome.

It is a challenge to overcome.

So when my old friend gave me that look, I realized I was complaining and simultaneously we uttered, “It is just a greater challenge!”

I didn’t have to do battle with cancer. I didn’t have to deal with a traumatic accident. I didn’t have anything really bad happen to me. I had a surgical procedure to check out my heart and it showed all was good. I am blessed.

So what? I lost a few weeks training.

So what? I lost some strength.

So what? I got a little soft.

I am healthy. I am still relatively fit. I now have a greater challenge.

Life is fun.

Life is not fair.

Life is a challenge.

Bring it on!

Keep training and remember: being fit isn’t simply about living longer, it is about living better!

Three Weeks from the Day

Today is Friday February 5th 2010.

Today is three weeks from the day that I had last gone for a run.

Today is three weeks from the day that I had last been in the gym.

Today is three weeks from the day I received the call from my cardiologist that there was an abnormal finding on my stress test and we would need to do a more invasive test.

Yesterday, I was given the okay from my doctor to go back to the gym. I was to go easy for the first two weeks, but I have healed up from my procedure and there were no restrictions, just words of caution — take it easy.

The alarm was set for six a.m., but I was awake by five; my heart was pounding, it was beating with excitement — today was the day I was going to workout.

I entered the gym doors, gym bag  tight in hand. I swiped my card, greeted the woman working the desk and headed to my locker.

I put my gear away, went up stairs to the cardio area and hopped up on the treadmill, in my head I heard the words, take it easy. I did, an easy 1/2 mile run. I was barely breathing heavy and I wasn’t even sweating, but I took it easy.

I went down to the weight area. I made a bee line to the shoulder press machine. I loaded it up, one 45 pound plate on each side, three weeks ago there were two +25, but I was to take it easy. The weights rose up and down with little effort, I did my supersets and fought the urge to add more weight.

I moved from exercise to exercise, resisting the desire to increase the poundage. I barely worked up a sweat, but I took it easy.

It was three weeks ago today I was last in the gym.

It was three weeks ago today I last felt cold, unrelenting iron in my hands.

It was three weeks ago today — I wasn’t sure if I would ever be back.

If all goes well, two weeks from today, I will no longer be taking it easy.

If all goes well, two weeks from today, I will no longer fight the urge to add more weight.

If all goes well, two weeks from today, I will be running further and harder.

If all goes well, two weeks from today, at the end of my workout  my clothes will be soaked in sweat.

Today is three weeks from the day that my life changed.

Today is three weeks for the day I promised to help others avoid the pitfalls of obesity.

Today is three weeks from the day that I knew my life’s work was to spread the word of fitness.

Today is the day I start that work.

A Minor Setback — Not a Roadblock!

“I was asked recently that if now that I lost the weight, I thought I was going to live longer. For a moment I pondered the question then answered, I honestly don’t know, however I do know one thing, I am living better.”

The above paragraph was how I ended a column in the August 30, 2009 edition of the Dispatch. Those same words were quoted back to me when I appeared on WVIA’s “Call the Doctor” on January 12, 2010.

Three days later I was slapped in the face with the realization of those thoughts.

During a scheduled follow up with my cardiologist all appeared well. Good EKG, blood pressure, heart sounds and pulse rate. The doctor told me he would see me in a year. I advised my cardiologist of my plans to compete in the Leigh Valley Half Marathon in April, The Boyertown YMCA Strongman contest in May and the Wilkes-Barre Triathlon in the summer. I asked if it would be reasonable, considering my previous morbid obesity, to have a stress test. He agreed, so we set up an appointment for January. The stress test went fine. Compared to my previous test in March of 2008 I was on the treadmill nearly four times longer to get my heart rate up, I didn’t have any chest pains, my blood pressure didn’t rise to above the normal range, recovered quickly and the EKG looked good throughout. I finished up and was told I would receive a call in a day or two. I left the doctor’s office and went for a run. The next two mornings I arose at my usual time, ran 2 miles hit the weights and then ran another mile — I was full into training for my upcoming events, increasing my run distance and I hadn’t lifted such heavy weights since I was in my twenties. I went through my workouts at a fast pace, barely resting between each heavy set and finished up with sweat drenched workout attire. I arrived at my office on Friday morning in great spirits. Linda, my office manger, commented on my good mood. I told her the extra bulk I mistakenly and needlessly added for the strongman contest was coming off and I was getting stronger with each workout — nothing was going to ruin my day.

The proverbial famous last words. About an hour later my cardiologist called.

I answered the phone expecting good results. My jovial spirit was quickly gone. The voice on the other end told me there was an abnormality on my stress test, he didn’t understand it because everything else looked good. However, on the exercise portion there was a problem. I asked him my options and he told me that the best way to be sure was a cardiac catheterization. I said I would call him back. Those that saw me after the call tell me that my face was ashen. I could understand because I was quite shaken up.

“How could this be?” I asked myself. I just ran 3 miles and moved over one ton of weights. I had been having regular testing. My blood work showed improved cholesterol readings, a stress test, a coronary CT scan and an echo cardiogram were all good. I even had a test to look for calcium deposits in my coronary arteries which revealed the best reading of zero. After consulting with my medical doctor cousins I opted to have the procedure.

The test was scheduled for the following Thursday and I was not to exercise until we knew what was going on. My heart sunk and I went from being shaken to being down right scared. The health care provider in me knew that if it were very serious I would be going directly to the hospital, the human being in me suddenly felt like there was now a time bomb in my chest.

Pre-procedure testing revealed another baffling piece to the puzzle — my cholesterol levels had improved even more. According to the test results my risk factor ratio was 2.86; below 3.4 decreases your risk factor by one half. Anxiety filled days and nights passed until the morning of the procedure.

My skilled physician did his thing and told me that all looked good.

Relief!

Now I have to wait to heal from the procedure before I get back to exercise. I am chomping at the bit because, you see, I had been guilty of two of the seven deadly sins, gluttony and sloth. Now I am guilty of one; greed.

The greed to maintain my fitness, to spread the word and help as many of those who lost their way as I did.

Exercise is the fountain of youth and weight loss is a side effect of fitness. I want to help as many people as I can get fit.

Interesting!

This morning I only had a chance to skim this interesting article. Later this week I will read it in more detail and then, of course, write a commentary.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33336289/ns/politics-washington_post/

Very Interesting

I only had a chance to skim over the below article.  I will read it in detail and then comment on it later this week.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33336289/ns/politics-washington_post/

The death of clanging and banging?

I have been lifting weights on and off since I was 12 years old. I will never forget the day my Mom and Dad purchased my first weightlifting set from Sears. I hurriedly opened the box containing the 110 pounds of plastic covered cement and the iron barbell with the plastic sleeves. I was in heaven, it was that day I began pumping plastic. A few years later,  I graduated to a commercial gym and it was there that I discovered the meaning of the phrase, “pumping iron.”

To me there is nothing quite as exhilarating as the smell, the noise and the energy of a true weightlifting gym. The clanging and banging of the iron, the grunts and groans as men and women try to blast out those last few muscle building reps really brings me to life.

So what has brought me to the title of this column?

Well, I was finishing up the other morning, it was chest and back day and I was doing my last of 36 sets, super-setting decline flyes with dead-lifts. I only had about 225 on the bar, but as we all know the dead-lift is a brutal exercise, more so when done last and even more so when done in a superset fashion. Well I was brining iron  down to the floor with some good old fashion banging. The sound of the weights against the floor ramped my adrenaline causing a release of energy to explode me upright.  At the top position my dead stop caused the weights to shake and there was the clanging.  I was really  moving, up and down like a piston. After my last set I re-racked the weight. I was soaked in sweat and my grip was almost completely shot thus the bar slipped and the weights came crashing down onto the rack.

I stood up tall, full of self-pride because I just completed three  more reps than I did last workout. Then it happened — the  person next to me muttered under their breath, “Jesus Christ.”

I paused, unable to believe what I just heard. I thought to myself you have to be kidding. I wanted to shout “THIS IS A GYM!”  Of course my parents raised me with manners so I walked over and apologized. This person did not even acknowldege my apology, so I edged a little closer and said it a bit louder. Finally, the person relunctantly accepted.

I was so ticked off that to calm down I did six more sets, three more supersets of machine benches and bent over rows. I noticed the mutterer was talking to someone else and when I was done with my sixth set the person finally went and did another set. I wanted to yell again, “MAYBE IF YOU WOULD ACTUALLY WORK OUT YOU MIGHT LOOK A LITTLE DIFFERENT THAN YOU DID A YEAR AGO!” But dam my parents raising me to be polite. I just stripped the bar, looked over and said, “good-bye.”

Honestly, is it just me? When I go to workout I am there to workout. I don’t sit around for 10 minutes between sets, I place a towel down on the benches; I take my sweat with me,  I allow people to work in, I always lift under control,  I rarely drop a weight, I respect the equipment, I strip every bar and every machine, I replace the weights back to the stacks, I put the dumbells back in their apporpriate place on the rack, I even put them in order if someone else didn’t.

So, am I out of line to workout so hard that iron weights make noise?

Am I incorrect to push a set to failure that on occasion the weight slips?

Is old school clanging and banging dead?   Say it ain’t so!

———————————————————————————————————————

https://www.createspace.com/3903024

http://www.obesityundone.com/

Physical Culturist and Chiropractor, Dr. Joe Leonardi is the author of the life changing book, “Obesity Undone” and a contributor to NaturallySavvy.com and CarbSmart.com. He is available to appear on any talk radio, internet podcast or television outlet.

He has appeared on 94.3FM’s The David Maderia Show, What’s Weighing You Down, w/Dr. Marilyn Gansel on FTNS radio, Nurture and Nutrition on Blog Talk Radio, Low Carb Conversations with Jimmy Moore and Friends, BlogTalk Radio’s Toni Harris Speaks, Internet Radio: Cathie’s Talking, TV -35′s Storm Politics with Tiffany Cloud, WILK’s The Sue Henry Show, Magic 93′s Frankie In The Morning, WBRE’s PA Live, SSPTV’s News 13, Public Television WVIA’s State of Pennsylvania and Call the Doctor; Entercom’s Outlook on Northeast PA with Shadoe Steele, Citadel Broadcasting’s Sunday Magazine with Brian Hughes, Lisa Davis’ Your Health Radio; Hank Garner’s Podcast, Dr. Robert Su’s Carbohydrates Can Kill Podcast; and the one and only Jimmy Moore’s Livin’ La Vida Low Carb podcast.
Dr. Joe Leonardi also will come and speak to your group; to learn more about his motivational speaking fees and availability contact him at docjoeleonardi@betterlifeseminars.com and check out his website http://www.ObesityUndone.com.
———————————————————————————————————————
************The information contained herein is for information purposes only and is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or disorder. The posting and videos do not apply to those with an underlying medical or hormonal condition. I advise anyone embarking on a weight loss and fitness plan to have a thorough medical evaluation. You want to be sure that you are physically able to exercise and you don’t have any underlying medical conditions No guarantees are made or to be implied.************