Do you know what self-less compassion looks like? Art Garfunkel of the famous duo “Simon and Garfunkel” demonstrated this when he was at Columbia University. At orientation, he became super close friends and eventually roommates with another student, Sandy Greenberg.
Sandy began to lose his eyesight and decided to go home to Buffalo and retreat from the world, his friends, and his dreams.
Art Garfunkel was having none of that. He showed up at his door, and convinced Sandy to go back to Columbia and finish school promising to be right by his side every step of the way. Art kept his promise. One day they were at the crowded Grand Central Station together when Art announced that he had another appointment and he had to leave. This was the first time that Sandy had to navigate crowds and public transportation alone. He struggled, fell, ran into people, scraped himself, and finally managed to take the right train home. Once he made it to familiar territory, he heard someone say, “excuse me sir” and it was Art. He never left him alone, he followed Sandy to make sure he could navigate his way independently. Sandy said that was a huge turning point in his life, knowing that he could do more than he thought possible.
When Art wanted to publish his first album with Paul Simon, he asked Sandy for the $400. At that time, Sandy didn’t have much more, but he wrote the check without hesitation and that was the beginning of Simon and Garfunkel’s famous music career.
Sandy went on to graduate from Columbia and then earned graduate degrees at Harvard and Oxford. He became an extremely successful entrepreneur and philanthropist.
I love this story of lifelong friendship, and through acts of compassion, being a turning point for someone’s life. Art was literally the usher illuminating the path for his friend, changing the trajectory of his life. Imagine…..imagine you being the one to show an act of kindness and changing the trajectory of someone else’s life? And, if anyone has done that for you, I’d love to hear it. Don’t you think the world needs more examples of self-less compassion? I do!
Have a great Front-Row Friday!
Your Head Usher,
Marilyn
