Haiku Sonnet for My Friend Jason
On the day we would have celebrated his 56th birthday
Sad and happy tale You send warmth into my chest From behind the veil
All thought you the best Empathy and compassion Heads above the rest
So many passions Layered personalities Own sense of fashion
Such complexities Enjoyed life’s simple pleasures That’s duality
Your soul is hearty and hale To Jason lets hoist an ale
Last year I wrote a series of American cinquain on losses I have endured.
Jason Friend since frosh year Loss has not yet made sense The greater purpose yet to be Revealed
That reflected what I wrote regarding Jason in my wide-ranging (God, souls, rehab, Andrew’s suicide, favorite foods, favorite lyrics, love, power of music, etc.) self-portrait essay back in 2013.
I am saddened that Jason is not here to reconnect with me. I think of Jason often. How he would so enjoy seeing his real estate investment blossoming. He would be so frenetic. And having meals in DaShwick — he would be in heaven on earth.
Where is the sense in his death? Where is the meaning? So much pain. Everything happens for a reason? What is the reason here? There is only so much we humans can understand. I guess I just have to think that the ripples his death has caused across the fabric of the universe serve an overall positive result. And besides, his soul lives and I will speak with him someday.
Jason passed in June 2013. In March 2014, the Bailey House Gala & Auction was held at Chelsea Piers. “The Gala honored the heroism of individuals and organizations that help further the Bailey House mission of providing housing and services for people living with HIV/AIDS and advocating on their behalf. Honorees included: Jason Sheftell, a respected real estate correspondent who changed hearts and minds through his moving articles about Bailey House in The Daily News and whose award will be accepted by his mother, Karen Sheftell, in memory of her late son.” — Source
I had the honor of writing and delivering the speech introducing Jason and handing the award to Karen. I dug it out today so I could share it with you. I’m crying now as I read it again.
“Good evening, everyone. I am honored and privileged to share with all of you my love and admiration for Jason Sheftell, whom Richard and I are grateful to have had as a close and fabulous friend for nearly 30 years, and for whom Bailey House’s Real Estate Award shall hereafter be so befittingly named. Jason personified this humanitarian award, as he was passionate about both people and real estate.
Humanitarian means compassionate, humane, unselfish, altruistic, generous, magnanimous, benevolent, merciful, kind, sympathetic — Jason embodied all of these transcendent qualities, and these, combined with his dynamic personality and dedication to his craft, are why his career in real estate was unparalleled.
Jason loved people, loved life — had an insatiable appetite for experiencing life through all of his senses and an intense intellectual curiosity. This is what made Jason’s work, writing about real estate, so unique and successful. Jason realized that real estate is so much more than its bricks and mortar — that real estate is not mostly about location, location, location. Jason realized that behind the architecturally significant facades and interior designs that he wrote about, the true essence of real estate is the people, the people, the people — it’s about all the people who make up our industry — the owners, developers, financiers, brokers, designers and builders, but most of all it’s about the people for whom we design and build — it’s about whom we are and how we live life — real estate is about where we call home — and home is where the heart is — and Jason’s heart was huge, warm, and welcoming.
Above all Jason was interested in meeting and knowing about people inside and out. So Jason embarked on a journey of walking the streets of our great city, absorbing all he could with his eyes, ears, nose and taste buds — our friend Jason loved to eat — not just to write about buildings and the people responsible for them — but to write about neighborhoods, because neighborhoods, more than the buildings that comprise them, are a community of people with stories to tell, and Jason loved to talk, and to listen, and then write so we could all experience the wonders of our world through his artful prose.
Jason came across Bailey House on his pilgrimage of discovery. I encourage all of you to read Jason’s article on Bailey House — a wonderful example of Jason’s talent for composition that fuses real-estate development and finance with an important human story of Bailey House’s successful campaign to provide comfort to a generation.
I had considered giving these remarks in the present tense because while Jason no longer resides in the realm perceptible by our physical senses, he is still present. He lives on not only in his works and deeds, and not only in our memories and in the tabernacles that are our hearts, but quite simply has rejoined the eternal infinity of the Universe, from where I know that Jason, together with his father Fred, will continue to be Karen’s and Lauren’s angel, and a friend to us all. And so Karen and Lauren, it is with a heart both poignant and uplifted, that I present you with Jason’s award.”
Thank you for helping me drain another of my infinitely deep chasms of pain making room for infinite amounts of light.
In Rama I create, with soul energy surging through my body, inspiring me and breathing wind into my sails,
Tagging Ravyne Hawke upon request.
