Wednesday Wisdom #17
Wednesday Wisdom #17
Issue 17: The Sun Does Shine, American Airlines' Golden Ticket, Personal Savings Rates
Hey everybody š,
Greetings from Chicago!
2020 is half over š¤Æāon one hand the first half of the year felt like an eternity and on the other, it flew by. Working from home has become the new norm and it doesnāt feel like weāll be going back to the office any time soon. I do miss some of the comforts like double 27-inch monitors or a more comfortable chair, but Iām happy to give up the commute to have more time in the morning to work out, walk, make coffee in the Chemex, and practice my writing.
On that last note, I mentioned last week that Iām thrilled to be the lead alumni mentor for the next cohort of Write of Passage which starts tonight! We have an intense schedule of 16 live sessions, 4 Saturday Crossfit sessions, individual writing sessions with our fellow mentors, and even live writing sessions with Ellen Fishbein who is a professional writing coach. Itās going to be tough but fun!
Iāve admittedly struggled with some writerās block lately so Iām hoping the live sessions will kick-start more consistency in my long-form writing.
In this weekās newsletter, Iāll cover:
š The Sun Does Shine
āļø American Airlinesā Golden Ticket
šµ US Personal Savings Rate: 1959-2020
š Chicago Sunrise
and more!
If you missed last weekās issue, you canĀ check it out here. I discussed Anne Lamottās Bird by Bird, Why Restaurants Fail, How to Buy a Car Without Getting Screwed, Apple vs. HEY, and more.
Book of the Week
The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life, Freedom, and Justice
I just finished book #13 of 2020, and perhaps my favorite so far this year.
About a month ago, amid the protests following the death of Geroge Floyd, Warner Bros. made their 2019 film āJust Mercyā available for free on Amazon Prime.
The movie tells the story of Bryan Stevenson, a Harvard law graduate who moves to Alabama to help fight for people who cannot afford proper legal representation and to help overturn or lessen convictions of death row inmates.
One of those inmatesāAnthony Ray Hinton was wrongfully imprisoned on death row for nearly 30 years. He was misidentified when a witness picked him out from a mugshot book. After his release from prison with the help of Bryan Stevenson and his firm EJI, Hinton wrote The Sun Does Shine, a powerful memoir where he recalls how he got convicted and eventually exonerated.
The tragedy of Hintonās story and so many others like him is that the criminal justice system in our country treats you better if you are rich and guilty than if you are poor and innocent. Hintonās only true crime was being born black in the state of Alabama.
From Friday night to Sunday afternoon, I couldnāt put the book down. I loved how Hinton retold his storyāin fascinating detail, with uncanny humor and humility. The book is an extraordinary testament to the power of hope through the darkest times. Hintonās story is a dramatic thirty-year journey which shows you can take away a manās freedom, but you canāt take away his imagination, dignity, humor, or joy.
Here were my favorite excerpts:
On using his imagination to āleaveā prison:
āTime was a funny and strange and fluid thing, and I was going to bend it and shape it so that it wasnāt my enemy. Someday I was going to walk out of here, but until then, I was going to use my mind to travel the world. I had so many places to go, and people to see, and things to learn. I could be there for meals and when the guards needed me to do something, but the minute my mind wasnāt occupied by the routine of the row, I left. My jet plane was always waiting, and it got easier and easier for me to travel in my mind.ā
On meeting Bryan Stevenson for the first time:
āThere are some people you meet and you know they are going to change your life forever. Meeting Bryan was like that. I looked at his face and I saw compassion and kindness. He looked smart. He also looked tired. There were lines around his eyes and a sort of sadness hidden in the creases.ā
On losing hope he would ever get out of prison:
āIāve won Wimbledon five times. Iāve played third base for the Yankees and led the league in home runs for ten straight years. Iāve traveled the world. Iāve married the most beautiful women. Iāve loved and Iāve laughed and Iāve lost God and found God again and wondered for too many hours what the purpose is for me going to death row for something I didnāt do. And sometimes I think there is no purposeāthat this is just the life I was meant to live. Iāve made a home here and a family out of some of the most terrifying men youād ever meet. And you know what Iāve learned? Weāre all the same. Weāre all guilty of something, and weāre all innocent at the same time. And Iām sorry, but a man can go crazy trying to make it all fit into some plan. Maybe this is the plan. Maybe I was born to live most of my life in a five-by-seven so I could travel the world.ā
On Alabamaās capital punishment rules:
āAlabamaās death penalty is a lie. It is a perverse monument to inequality, to how some lives matter and others do not. It is a violent example of how we protect and value the rich and abandon and devalue the poor. It is a grim, disturbing shadow cast by the legacy of racial apartheid used to condemn the disfavored among us. Itās the symbol elected officials hold up to strengthen their tough-on-crime reputations while distracting us from the causes of violence. The death penalty is an enemy of grace, redemption and all who value life and recognize that each person is more than their worst act.ā
I highly recommend reading this book, I think youāll enjoy it as much as I did. If you would like to get more familiar with Hintonās story, here is an excellent talk he gave at Google in 2018 while promoting the book.
Interesting Things I Learned This Week
American Airlines' Golden Ticket
In 1981, American Airlines posted a $76 million loss and was in serious financial trouble. In order to finance its growing operations, the airline needed a quick infusion of cash. AAirpass was a discount program for frequent flyers, offering unlimited travel. For $250,000, pass holders had lifetime first-class travel. No strings attached. Travel as much as you want, forever*.
In 2007, American Airlines said that two AAirpass holders, Steven Rothstein and Jacques Vroom were costing the airline more than $1 million annually. The airline terminated their passes and accused them of fraudulent activity. The airline ended sales for the program in 1994.
US Personal Savings Rate: 1959-2020
Due to COVID, Iām not surprised personal savings rates are going up as people have less tolerance for risk and debt, but I am surprised at how much itās up relative to prior years, especially looking at the chart after 2008.
Low of 2.2% in 2007, high of 32.2% in May 2020.
Personally, I follow Ramit Sethiās suggestion of having my savings completely automated. Each week, money moves from my checking to my savings account without me having to do anything other than monitoring the accounts as part of a standard weekly review.
Chicago Sunrise š
Tweet of the week
Nerd joke š
Photo of the week
Since shelter-in-place began, I havenāt been able to go to my gym. I signed up for Pelotonās Digital Membership to work out at home but I was missing my favorite piece of cardio equipment.
About 8 weeks ago, I got on Concept2ās waiting list for an indoor rower and it finally came this week. Iāve been easing back into it, rowing 20 minutes every morning, and love having it at home. I will say though, the rower is hugeāif you plan on getting one, make sure you have lots of free space, mine barely fit in our second bedroom aka my office.
Until next week,
If you would love to discuss anything Iāve covered, please reach out to me by replying to this email or sending a direct message on Twitter atĀ @levnaginsky
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