Guest post by Christa Avampato

We hold a certain fondness in our hearts for the improbable journey and for the travelers who take those journeys. Last night at the 92nd Street Y, Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo gave us something to think about as he described his own improbable journey from his childhood immigrant household in South Jamaica, Queens to his 12 years as the Governor of New York. His talk kicked off a new series at 92Y entitled Lecture of My Life™, an initiative to bring the most distinguished visitors back to the stage to share their greatest life lessons.

Cuomo discussed politics, religion, and falling in love with the lady of the law. He talked about his wife Matilda, and his 5 children, particularly Andrew Cuomo, who is a likely candidate for the same seat in Albany that his father occupied for 12 years. He shared his views on the state of the union as well as the state of the world, U.S. schools, and the healthcare system. Adamantly, he drove home the idea that the role of government is to assure opportunity and the role of every citizen is to take up personal responsibility for our lives and our communities.

When asked by an audience member if he had any direct advice on life and on the time we live in, he had a few choice words of consideration for President Obama as he reflects on his first year in office and for us as we reflect on our own existence. For President Obama, Cuomo had the following heartfelt advice:

1. Mr. President, you shouldn’t have started with healthcare. With everything else falling down around us, there were other issues that needed tending first. However, now that we have gone down this road, we must finish what we started. We must get some kind of heathcare bill passed. And yes, Mrs. Pelosi, you have to go get those Senate votes by any means necessary. The bill won’t be perfect. We aren’t going to get a complete fix to healthcare, but we have to at least have a bill that is a start down the road to improvement.

2. You, Mr. President, are the most burdened President in modern history. Not even FDR has the troubles you have in this current state of the nation: healthcare, education, the energy crisis, Afghanistan, and this dreadful economy. You won’t get it all done in 4 years. Think of it as work to complete in 8 years. This will help us take 1 issue at a time.

3. Please, Mr. President, don’t lose heart. In this next year you will have to fight and fight hard. While you are the most burdened President in modern history, you are also the most brilliant and the most eloquent. What you lacked was experience, and in your first year in office, you got plenty of experience.

As for us, he shared his belief that it is a choice to believe in this great collective dream that our country is the best country in the world. We choose to believe that we can and must do better, and that we must choose to get involved in our communities and in our collaborative pursuit of creation that will lead to a better world. Without our involvement, our society will become one comprised of the lucky and the left out, and we simply cannot afford that economically or morally. Prosperity, collectively and personally, is a choice we must make.

Christa Avampato is a product developer by day and a freelance writer by night. She lives in New York City. You can learn more about her writing and her life at http://www.christainnewyork.com.

Previously:
92Y Podcast: Mario Cuomo and Declarations of War.

[92Y Lectures and Conversations]

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