I Give Up: You Win - A Glimpse into the Character of Man

By Joseph P. Badame

This short story superficially explores the nature of book popularity and purchasing patterns through conducting a simplistic experiment. It is not a scientific study and offers no earth shattering conclusions, but it does present some interesting observations about the preferences and behavior of the reading public. It attempts to encourage constructive feedback to the author in a small attempt to upgrade the quality of manuscripts. If you are a reader detached from the creative process, this is a real opportunity to become an active participant to improve the quality of independent publishing. Accept the challenge and help improve the world of reading for the next generation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Joseph P. Badame
• Release date: Dec 30, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310462252

Joseph P. Badame

Joseph Badame is a retired architect living in New Jersey. He is spending his remaining years working on projects to honor his late wife who was a master teacher. This book is one of his endeavors to pay tribute to her memory.

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Copyright © 2014 by Joseph P. Badame

All rights reserved.

Written by

Joseph P. Badame

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by Joseph P. Badame

I find my tired mind meandering as I age,

Contemplating my departure from life’s lonely stage.

Embracing yesterday with fondness, rebuffing tomorrow with dismay,

The present most often blurs, and becomes that yesterday.

My thoughts reside in the year of fifty-seven,

That glorious moment we found each other in our everlasting heaven.

But now that she is gone, never to return,

Awaiting our reunion, my broken heart will yearn.

Lovingly dedicated to Phyliss

A Master Teacher all her life – still teaching after she is gone

I GIVE UP – YOU WIN

A glimpse into the character of man

I started my life believing in the goodness of mankind – not a bad place to start. I am grateful for that. The tutelage by my teacher and mentor, Miss Crudo, in the eight and ninth grades strongly reinforced that belief. It was unavoidable to be in her presence and not be positively influenced in such a way.

After graduating from her class, our association turned to friendship, love, and eventually marriage as documented in my book I married my Teacher. During the eleven years before our marriage, her influence increased and culminated in our service in the Peace Corps for two years. Partially from my own convictions and the influence of Phyliss, the end of our service in Tunisia represented the high point in my faith in the benevolence and worthiness of man.

Despite the forty-five years of marriage to my dear wife and her unwavering faith in this belief, somehow I managed to become harden to and distanced from the belief that man is basically good, kind, generous. . . Not being fully aware of it, the destructive phenomenon of cynicism slowly crept into my psyche. Maybe it was my business, profession, personal relationships, politics, religious hypocrisy, or other influences. I am not sure. I wish I knew. I am most displeased with the transformation.