It is possible to be thankful every moment, every
day. It is possible to be thankful every moment,
every day. It takes practice and humility. Hi,
and welcome to Tell Me What Happened, the podcast
that features people from all walks of life talking
about formative childhood experiences. and how
those experiences have impacted their lives as
adults. Tell Me What Happened is sponsored by
Sidelining Publishing, publishers of quality
books, including Scott Summa's timely work, Don't
Act Like the President, available on Amazon or
wherever quality books are sold. Tell Me What
Happened is also sponsored by laughsaver .com.
Visit LaughSaver .com and record your laughter.
LaughSaver .com will keep it for you, now and
forever. Your family will appreciate it. It's
free and it's easy to use. That's LaughSaver
.com. All right, it's time for our interview.
I have as my guest Scott Summa, author, minister,
retired teacher. Scott's here to tell us about
a childhood mentor. someone that you might not
suspect ordinarily as being someone who might
be a guy. Are you ready to tell your story, Scott?
Yes, I am, Jay. All right, I'm going to try to
get out of the way, Scott, let you tell your
story. And then at the end, we're going to ask
you how what you've told us impacts your life
today. Well, thank you, Jay. I wanted to talk
about my sixth grade confirmation. Confirmation
is like the last mass sacrament Catholics receive.
It's a Catholic bar mitzvah without the hard
work, the right of initiation into Catholic adulthood.
You know, when I was in sixth grade, we studied
our catechism, tended our religion classes, visited
with the priest to ask questions and to answer
them. We had to pick a confirmation name. Cardinal
would come to your parish for this event. You'd
get special clothes to wear. But most significantly,
You had to choose someone to be your sponsor.
Someone who would guide you in the faith. I had
two uncles that lived nearby. One was a jerk
and the other was an active alcoholic. I had
two brothers. One was kicked out of Catholic
high school and always ditched math. And the
other was away at college. So I really, I didn't
have anyone to choose to be my sponsor. My parents
were pushing me to make a decision. So I finally
said to them, can I ask my barber? And they were
a little stunned. And they said, like, why your
barber? I said, he's the most Christ -like person
I know. And they said, OK. I first met John Basil
when I was in fifth grade. He owned Basil's barber
shop. That's where I'd get my hair cut. But I'd
also stopped by to see him and just spent some
time. His barber shop was his theater. And while
in his barber chair, you were the captive audience
of one. While cutting my hair, he would break
out into song. He would do impressions of politicians
and movie stars. He would tell me jokes. He even
had a little mouse finger puppet so that when
he would cut my hair, it would appear magically
on my shoulder and make me laugh. He would reminisce
about the past, growing up Italian and serving
in World War II, talk about his family life.
He spoke of life and would share insights and
wisdom with me. Most of all, he'd give me support
and encouragement. He would tell me how good
I was and how bright my future was. And he would
ask me what I thought. And he would truly listen
to what I had to say. When I asked John to be
my guide, he was stunned and speechless. His
response was simply, I'm only a barber. But he
was so much more for me. And I figured out that
John was my first mentor. He was different than
all the other adult males in my life. His identity
was not tied to his success, his income, or masculinity.
He was kind, gentle, caring, and extremely humble.
My friends and I were jocks. We played football,
baseball, basketball. The personal strength in
him was important and being tough made you cool.
And some of my friends would even mock him and
call him the goofy barber. But I discovered that
I not only liked him and enjoyed being around
him, but I came to realize I wanted to be like
him. We remained close friends for years. I eventually
stopped getting my haircut from him. but I would
come by to talk. His shop closed, and then he
eventually became an assistant in another one
and eventually retired. In retirement, John would
go to nursing homes and entertain people. He
would sing, tell stories, tell jokes, and make
people laugh. John eventually moved in with one
of his brothers and eventually slipped into dementia.
I saw him one more time. He remembered me. We
smiled, we laughed. I remembered him and I reminded
him of all that he did for me. How he served
as a role model and showed me how to be a good
and caring person. I thanked him for all he did.
I also recalled with him the confirmation service
and how we were kneeling at the altar at St.
Catherine of Alexandria's Church. We were in
a long line of Confirmandi and their sponsors,
waiting for Cardinal Cody to come down the row
and confirm us with a slap on the cheek. And
there, with John's hand on my shoulder, I looked
down and saw the little mouse, and I laughed,
and I was confirmed. John helped shape who I
am. He inspired me. He served as a reminder throughout
my life, and even now, to be kind and caring,
to make time for all and listen to all people,
especially young ones, to encourage and uplift
others, to bring a little joy and laughter into
people's lives. Well, Scott, that's a beautiful
story. He sounds like a pretty wonderful guy,
this guy, John Basil. I don't know what kind
of a barber was he. Was he a good barber? Well,
you know, I tell you. John's haircuts always
needed a little extra work. When I'd come home,
my mother would take out a scissors and just
fix it here and there. Because the whole time
he was cutting my hair, we're laughing, he's
telling me jokes, he's doing impressions. His
gift was not his cutting. His gift was not shaping
my hair, it was shaping me. That's great. So
how do you think he's really, in a real sense,
how do you feel like he's impacted your life?
In what way exactly? Could you be precise right
now? Yeah, you know, I was born in the suburbs
and I went to a private high school and I was,
I think, my trajectory was to become a successful
person in whatever field, but it was definitely,
I was heading somewhere, you know, and John Basil
just kind of knocked me off that path and said,
success and all that's important, but what's
really important is being a genuine caring, loving
human being. And this man who made very little
money, as he would say, I'm just a barber, his
humility made me want to be like him. You know,
that's why I picked him to be my confirmation
guide. He became a mentor and at a very young
age for me. And so my whole life, I've always
wanted to be like John Basil. Well, thank you,
Scott. That was great. I understand you have
a little John Basil. You saved the little John
Basil for us. Is that right? Something we can
hear? I found a tape he made for me that he shared
some of his thoughts, but where he actually does
some of his singing and tells some of his jokes.
So I thank the whole world to hear just a snippet
of who John Basil was. That's a great idea. You
know, that really is. So at the end of the show,
what we're going to do is we're going to listen
to a little John Basil. So if you could send
me some of that, we'll put it in the show. You
got it. Thank you, Jay. I was a joy having you
on the show. I learned a lot. It was informative.
It was moving. And you be safe out there and
try not to hurt anybody, OK? All right. So that's
our show. I want to thank our guest, Scott Summa,
for that wonderful story. Thanks also to our
sponsors, Sidelining Publishing and laughsaver
.com. I'm going to end this show a little differently
today. What I'm going to do is we're going to
end it with a little John Basil music and words
of wisdom. Until next time, stay safe out there
and try not to hurt anybody. So the only way
I could write and let them know was to talk movies
because they all knew I was a movie pilot. So
we were going to Morocco and so I wrote, I'm
going to go see Bing Crosby in the road to Morocco
soon. And do you know it went through? And that's
probably why we lost that battle. The Germans
got a hold of it, maybe. I don't know. Yeah,
that's one thing about over there. You saw Germans,
and then you saw French. Yeah, then you saw the
Italian hey byron gives a reach Don't Domenico,
huh? but I learned a song in Italy and I there
was really a tearjerker song it was beautiful
and This little kid a tagging boy used to come
over And we were in a tent and he used to look
at my medical books and being a tagging being
foreign He turned it upside down. He couldn't
make out what the anatomy part of the book was
you know the the skeletons and he was humming
and I said what is that pretty so then he brought
me the words to the songs you they had a very
way nice way of printing they print beautiful
and to this day everywhere I go people beg me
not to sing it please don't sing it please please
don't sing it but I go ahead and sing it I, you
know, when you get a microphone in there and
you really think you're Tom Jones or Engelberg,
Emperor, Perry Cuomo. And the other night we
went to Falco's at 63rd, all around Whipple and
somewhere, and I got up and I had to sing this
song again because it's an Italian restaurant.
And I learned it in Italian and in English. And
it goes something like this, but not exactly.
Mamma, son tanto felice, perchè ritorno da te.
Lo mia canzone le dice che è più bel giorno per
me. Mamma, son tanto felice, viva lontano per
te. Oh, mamma. solo per te la mia canzone vola
mamma sarai con me o non sarai il più sole quando
ti voglio bene queste valore d 'amore che ti
dospira il mio cuore forse non si usava più People
are wonderful. All over. You gotta give everybody
a chance in spite of their race, creed, or color
because you're gonna find out. Well, they're
good, that's all. They're good. I wouldn't be
talking to you kids if I didn't think you were
good.