This past weekend I went back to Scarsdale High School. 12 graduates, myself included, were being honored as distinguished alumni.

It was quite an honor. The list of alumni from SHS is long and distinguished. My co-honorees were amazing and impressive. I couldn't help but feel that my award was premature - I am proud of my accomplishments, but I am a work in progress, and I hope the next 40 years brings greater achievement and accomplishment. This is the third year the Scarsdale High alumni group has been selecting distinguished alums, and the thought that I am in the first 36 blows my mind.

The weekend was lovely. On Friday, I had an opportunity to meet with some students, and observe what they are doing in the classroom. Walking through the school - up and down the stairwell, in the music tower, around the grounds - brought back very distinct memories of being younger. I don't have memories of high school often, so this was pretty cool. The music faculty at the high school is clearly doing a fabulous job. The students speak of them with reverence and admiration, and the creativity of method in teaching kids music is very impressive.

Saturday was the big event. We were each introduced and given a chance to say something to the fairly large gathering of parents, teachers and friends. All but two of us were able to attend (the two absentees were Carolyn Strauss, the President of programming at HBO, and Eve Ensler, who wrote "The Vagina Monologues" - they had good excuses!). Some of the themes were shared by many of us - the support of teachers and parents, the encouragement to pursue our dreams, the high quality of our education (I still feel that I got a better overall education at Scarsdale High than at Harvard College). But the variety of personal stories and journeys, from the STEP student from Mississippi, who now teaches in Arizona, and serves as advisor to the Gates Foundation; to the near high school flunk-out who is now a distinguished playwright and one of the world's preeminent scholars on Shakespeare; to a man who has devoted a lifetime to helping at-risk kids through his own charity, Jimmy's Boys; to one of America's pioneers in forensic medicine; artists, journalists, historians, philanthropists.....what an august group to be a part of!

One of the themes of my short talk was how grateful I am to the teachers who have invested themselves in me - completely, and selflessly. Many of them are well-aware of my gratitude. Some are no longer with us, and I regret never telling them. Shame on me.

So... to Mrs. Brenneman, Ms. Fahey, Mr. Minard, Mrs. Spiegelman, Mrs. Spillman, Charity Bailey, Mrs. Goodman, Mr. Ladensack, Mr. Kaye, Mr. Baron, Mr. Maloney, Ms. Silver, Mr. Haseltine, Mrs. Cantor, Mr. Husted, Mr. Lokietz, Mr. Feig, Ms. Oksner, Dr. Mantz, Msgnr. Reid, Mr. Ehret, Dr. Albright, Ms. Simon;

...Reuven Grodner, Benjamin Yablock, Avi Schwartzmer;

...Tison Street, Lewis Lockwood;

...and of course, Baruch and Drora Arnon, Otto-Werner Mueller, Keiko Sato, Michael Friedman, and Edward Aldwell;

...and to the many others whom I have sorrowfully omitted due to nothing other than my own dotage:

Thank you.