Author: AdministratorSubject: Co-op City's Rev. Dr. Robert A. Smith publishes book, Flying with Broken Wings
Posted: Feb 13 2016 at 12:15pm
Co-op City's Rev. Dr. Robert A. Smith Jr. publishes book on overcoming the odds of life; Flying with Broken Wings
Rev. Dr Robert A. Smith Jr., a pastor in the Coop City community for more than 12 years, a counselor for drug abuse victims for more than 20 years and currently a counselor for Co-op City's bereaved, said this week that all he has accomplished in life, including the recent publication of a new book,
Flying with Broken Wings, was not supposed to happen, according to the accepted statistics of contemporary society.
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"I grew up in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn which would never be confused with Shangri-La; tough neighborhood and tough people who endured difficulties," Dr. Smith recalled during an interview with the
Co-op City Times this week. "And coming from this neighborhood, the expectations from the larger world of young Black males at this time (the 1950's) was very low. According to the statistics, I should have died before 20 or spent most of my life in prison and spent man years of my life being non-productive, making no contribution to family or community. That was the expectation of larger society at that time."
But through the grace of God and the help of many around him, including his parents to whom he dedicated the book and many family members, neighbors, teachers and others, Dr. Smith had a very successful life, accomplishing much personally, academically, professionally and socially.
"So with this book, I want to take the readers back to that time and what it was like growing up there in Bedford Stuyvesant and by doing so point out that failure does not have to be your legacy. It does not have to be the albatross around your neck," Dr. Smith explained. "I was a late bloomer. Just like a lot of people, I made a lot of bad choices in my life, especially as a young person. With that in mind, my hope is to show the reader that it is not where you start, but where you end up, and that God has a purpose for everyone."
He said that the book, which was largely written last summer and autumn, had its genesis in a dream that he had 30 years ago when he was visited by his beloved, late Aunt Beatrice who told him, in the dream, that one day he would write this book.
In the many decades before and since then, Dr. Smith, 76, accomplished so much, including a Masters degree in Divinity and a Doctorate degree in Theology and decades of meaningful professional work counseling thousands who suffered from substance abuse, marital discord, the loss of loved ones or just a loss of spiritual belonging brought on by society's pressures and its seeming lack of compassion. But despite all that, the book that was foretold in his dream never came to be.
Dr. Smith retired from his full-time work as a church pastor last winter and took advantage of some of his newfound free time to have surgery on his eyes to help him overcome his long-time fight with glaucoma, a family trait which he admits was getting increasingly worse in later year. He said when the surgery was complete, he asked his surgeon if and when he can begin writing and the surgeon replied that he can begin now; his vision was near perfect again.
Not wasting another day, Dr. Smith said he began the difficult creative process of writing, in his case long hand on legal pads over many months; a process which he said consumed him full-time with ideas and the recollection of often difficult memories from his childhoo at all different times, sometimes in the middle of the night when he got up from bed to capture his thoughts before they vanished into the recesses of his mind.
In promotional material, Dr. Smith describes the work like this, "My thesis is that every person, regardless of the circumstances of his or her life, has value and worth. Simply stated, you are somebody because of your uniqueness. Every human being has talents, special ailities and temperament that benefit community, family or society. This book is not aimed specifically at faith communities, whether Christian, Jewish or disciples of Islam, though on a visceral level, I hope my words touch brothers and sisters trying to fit into a group to lift their self image..."
On a personal level, Dr. Smith said his book is dedicated to, and a tribute to his deceased parents, whom he described as hard working, loving people who successfully raised eight children into great men and women during difficult but loving times.
"My parents never panicked. They just calmly made decisions despite the difficulties they faced in raising us," Dr. Smith recalled.
"My father worked three jobs and God only knows how he did that, Dr. Smith recounted. He called his father a Jackie Robinson type figure, without the attention the baseball player received, because he was the first African-American man to work as a dispatcher for the old New York-New Haven railroad, a job he held for more than 30 years, Dr. Smith said.
And despite the prejudice and racism that he faced every day, Dr. Smith recalled the man never talked about it and never answered the hatred that he faced with hatred of his own toward others.
"He never poisoned me or my brothers and sisters with negative attitudes towards White people," Dr. Smith said. "He just taught us that you treat all people the way you want to be treated regardless of what color they are. He never contaminated our thinking and I never forgot that."
That sense of fairness and respect for all people, regardless of their circumstances, served him well later in life, Dr. Smith said. When he was trying to succeed in seminary school, he said there were many people with whom he shared nothing in terms of race, religion or economic or social backgrounds, who took him under their wings and helped guide him to a successful academic experience, beginning with the Catholic Jesuit priests who taught him and guided him as an undergraduate at Fairfield University, to spiritual advisors and professors who guided him during his work at the Andover Newton Theological Seminary in Massachusetts and later as a doctoral candidate at the Slidell Baptist Seminary in Louisiana.
Dr. Smith said he will begin promoting the new book by returning to his alma mater from many decades ago, Fairfield University in Connecticut, for a reception and book signing in the very near future.
Although his promotion plans will not include a lot of traveling away from the area simply because he does not like to be away from his home and his wife, Theresa, for extended days, he will be returning to his Brooklyn roots for a book signing at the famed Bridge Street AME Church, also in the very near future.
He said that Co-op City community organizations who would like to know more about the book an arrange to have him speak about it can reach him at
917-734-4058.
Flying with Broken Wings can be purchased through
Amazon.com by simply going to the book section of the website and searching under the title or the author's name. An electronic or Kindle version of the book is also available. Dr. Smith added that he would be honored to sign the book for any Co-op City resident or community organization that purchases it.
By Bill Stuttig
Coop City Times Associate Editor
Coop City Times is
now online
