Opening paragraphs........

      My father did a lot of instructing, but we did not always take away the lesson he intended.  He taught us in both ways: by example and by counterexample.  The most helpful instruction might come via a side remark or gesture, the slouch of his shoulders or a smile that started in his eyes and spread across his face.  If a certain song, Frank Sinatra's "There Used to Be a Ballpark," say, struck him as profound, he'd say "Listen to the words! It's not about a ballpark! It's about life!"  If a movie made him cry, Frank Capra's Mr. Deeds Goes To Town, for example, he'd say, "It's not about a hayseed from Mandrake Falls. It's about everyone."

-Rich Cohen, The Adventures of Herbie Cohen: World's Greatest Negotiator