It was a beautiful September morning the day he dropped off his son, Kyle, for his first day of kindergarten. He had opted to go in to work to late so that he could be there with his son on this monumental day. It was during that drop off that he heard that Tower 1 of the World Trade Center, where the company he was the CEO of, Cantor Fitzgerald, had been hit by a plane. His brother and over 600 employees would perish on that day and his life changed forever in that moment. Howard Lutnick became a beacon of hope and strength for the families of his employees. His family raised money to support those families he felt responsible for, in addition to others. His wife, head up an organization to help these families. Howard now sits on the Trump Administration’s cabinet as the Secretary of Commerce. Having lost his mother when he was in high school to cancer and then his Dad during his college years at Haverford, loss was something he has experienced before. It was his moment not to cower in depression or panic, but it was his moment to be there for his employees families, to rebuild his company, bigger and better than before and beyond generous than he could have ever imagined, not only for those in the circle of Cantor Fitzgerald, but for many others. Little did he know, just much how that moment on the morning of September 11, 2021 would change the course of his life…
Howard Lutnick dropping off his son, Kyle for his first day of kindergarten on September 11, 2001…Howard Lutnick, current Secretary of Commerce for the Trump Administration.
William Martin was born in the Bronx, May 9, 1949 to a classical pianist father and a mother who was a music teacher. He knew after hearing the Beatles play on the Ed Sullivan show that he wanted to be a professional musician. William dropped out of high school to pursue his dreams, had some road blocks and detours along the way. Discouraged from a bad deal with a record company on his first album, he headed to California, to get out of dodge and played piano in a bar and wrote what would become the song that would put him on the map, based on his experience playing in the LA piano bar. As “Billy Joel” tells the story, his band was driving in their van when they heard their song, “Piano Man“ come on the radio, they got out of the car, they jumped for excitement to celebrate the success of their first big song making it to radio play. Little did Joel know at that moment that the course of his life would change and his life would never be the same…
Life can be like that. You may be able to look back on your life or your family’s, when a pivotal moment, caused you to either stand up to take your place or you were placed, by no fault of your own, into a new role that would change your life. Maybe it was when a family member immigrated to the United States, or Canada, maybe it was when you married the right person and you began a new life together or maybe it was an unexpected life altering tragedy that cause you or someone close to you to step up to the plate to take on a new set of responsibilities. It could be the acceptance letter to your choice college or the rejection letter that causes you to say, “I need to go with plan B” and it directs you to the path your were meant to take…
Dan Bongino top as a young Secret Service Agent, his radio program promotional image, below left, his superior as the Director, Kash Patel and a recent photo at a speaking engagement, following his successful battle with cancer. Photo bottom right, Dan, Paula and their two daughter ( family dog). Dan is a tough common sense expert in his field.
Dan Bongino grew up in Queens. His family life growing up was far from perfect, but he managed to graduate from Queens College and become a police officer for the city of New York. From there he went of to become a Secret Service Agent. Dan left his coveted position as a Secret Service Agent, a year before he was eligible for retirement, for undisclosed reasons. From there, he ran for three unsuccessful congressional seats in Maryland and then in Florida. He was left wondering what his life would be, as young husband and Dad. His and his wife, started a podcast in their basement, borrowing money for equipment and with Paula using her media skills to put it all together. With some help from Mark Levin and appearances on conservative news outlets, Dan launched his career as a common sense moderator and ‘translator’ of current political events. He drew on his experience working in different Presidential administration to call out who ever was in the wrong. Dan’s trade mark, “I’m bringing the receipts!” And “Cutesy Time is Over!” Became phrases he stood by and build one of the most successful radio platforms and helping launch Parlor and Rumble as an initial investor in both. People know they can trust Dan for fair and balanced information. He also ways vows not to get ahead of the story and refuses to give his thoughts just to talk. After a battle with cancer a few years back, he came back stronger and more convinced than ever that the American people were looking at a Behemoth of corruption in Washington DC that he began piecing together, after his birds-eye view of The Swamp, what has been going on behind the scenes, like “Insane in Ukraine, a chapter from his book, Follow the Money. Dan went on to write books on the corruption in, Follow the Money, and other topics in his other books, The Gift of Failure, Spy Gate, Exonerated, Life Inside the Bubble, Protecting the President and The Fight. The popular podcast and radio show’s audience began to grow, he took over Rush Limbaugh’s time slot on conservative radio outlets. The studio that was run out of their home, outgrew it’s needs. Last year, he and Paula embarked on a new studio after purchasing a new site that would be ready in March of 2025. During his show’s and appearance the former Secret Service agent would tell listeners to do their part, from “Get 10 people to vote,” “Stand up for conservative values”, “do your part,” “educate yourself on the issues” and on and on…
Two week’s ago when the call came, offering Bongino the role of Deputy Director of the FBI, he recalled how he had inspired listeners to do their part. So even as his new studio was nearly completed, he and his wife made the decision that may be his ‘this is the Moment’, moment. Divesting from his company, turning over all operations to his wife and stepping back from what he had created and climbed to the top of in terms of viewership and credibility, he will have worked in his new studio just over one week, when he steps away on Friday, March 14, the day his last show will air. A decision he did not take lightly, with two daughters, one still at home, one in college, but a decision, he felt that he needed to do to do his part to serve his country, after all, how could he tell his viewers to do what they could do and sit in his studio, when he could use his former and experience and skills to help clean up corruption in The Swamp…
Since the beginning of time, people have made choices that have changed their lives and history. Consider the German general who took leave to celebrate his wife’s birthday on what would Be D Day, the day that the Allied Forces stormed Normandy France in what would end up wrapping up the European Front of World War II. Think about how things might have been different if watchmen on the Titanic had had binoculars rather than just the human eye. Would they have seen the ice berg in enough time for the ship NOT to have hit it, ending in the sinking of the ship and the perishing of more than 1,500 souls? Remember in reading history how Abraham Lincoln’s Presidency was a tenure of tragedies of for the President and his family personally and as the leader of the nation. The Lincoln’s lost a child shortly after he took office, he was saddled with a country torn apart socially with the Civil War and then finally with a successful assassination after a few foiled attempts. Lincoln’s top security officer was sent on an errand when he travel to the theater. A local Washington D.C police officer, John Parker, was on detail outside of the President’s Box at the Ford Theater the night he was assisination by John Wilkes Booth. Bored at intermission, he went next door to the saloon for a drink. The President was shot during Parker’s absence. How different history may have been had Lincoln had adequate security protection, or maybe not. We will never know.
Life is interesting and sometimes our calling comes to take our place in the role we were meant to take on. We just never know when that time may come…Sometimes we recognize when it comes and sometimes it comes out of the blue, leaving us stunned and left to decide if we will take the challenge or not…
It’s a Great Day ❤️
