Guest Post From Author Andrew Friedman

 My writing reflects and embodies the lessons I learned while caring for my now deceased parents for more than ten years. And the main lesson I learned is that time is quintessentially valuable. Time is infinitely more precious and important than any material possession, even treasured family heirlooms. Its loss is felt more grievously than that of anything we own. As someone once said, “waste anything but time, because we really are promised no tomorrows.”

What I also learned is that the best way to spend time is with your family and friends. These are the people with whom you build memories that become a life preserver after they are gone. Such memories are an emotional salve for grief. Family and friends also lessen our fear of death, and therefore help us to accept our own mortality. Many people are more rightly frightened of growing old alone than they are of dying.

These themes are all explored in my book “Say Not What If,” through the life of a man who sacrifices his marriage and everything else for his career. He realizes much too late the terrible consequences of this decision, and then desperately tries to regain those lost years by making a much worse choice. The resolution of this latter choice involves an additional examination of the concepts of accountability and responsibility, redemption, and the morality of the death penalty.

"Say Not What If" is written as a long rhyming poem, a format I choose because it resembles the lyrics to a song. I have also never seen a book written in this format, and writing and life itself should be about seeking and conquering new challenges. Anything else is a recipe for boredom. The book is nonetheless very easy to read, as many reviewers have noted. Best wishes for a fulfilling and happy life.


I am an attorney and business consultant. “Say Not What If” is my first book.