J
oseph Serrentino, a juvenile court judge from Los Angeles, proves that life is a story.
He was born and raised in Brooklyn. He was the second eldest in a family of seven children and he grew up in an atmosphere of street gangs and hoodlums. By the time he was 20 years old, Joe had served time in reform school, jail and even a padded cell for incorrigibles. He flunked out of school four times, went through nearly 30 jobs and was literally kicked out of the Marine Corps.
As a high school drop-out with no skills and no money, he tried his hand at professional boxing. He soon quit that as well.
One day, as he was passing Brooklyn’s Erasmus Hall High School, Joe saw a sign that invited passersby to enroll in night school. Suddenly, he realized that his only chance for a better life was through education.
Joe enrolled, found that he loved to learn and graduated with the highest grade point average in the history of Erasmus Hall’s night school. He then decided to attend the University of California at Santa Barbara, where he became president of the student body and graduated magna cum laude. After graduation, he began reviewing his life with all its defeats and decided there was one more thing he should do. He reenlisted in the marines to remove that embarrassing blemish from his record. After an honorable discharge, he entered Harvard Law School and graduated as class valedictorian in 1967.
His valedictory address touched everyone present, as he recounted his life story and concluded with these words:
“Do not look for tragedy or trauma to explain the change in me; it came mainly from inner resolution. Life is a story and as the author of my own never before written story, I had the right and the charge to write it and rewrite it so that it would play out in whatever way I desired.”