UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20436
June 29, 1984
Mr. Michael P. Mabile, Esq.
Assistant General Counsel
U.S. International Trade Commission
Dear Mr. Mabile:
As you are aware, today marks the end of my internship with the Commission. I wish to thank you for providing the opportunity to serve as a legal intern at the office of the General Counsel. I have found the work experience challenging, enjoyable, at times exasperating, but always interesting. The internship has been a useful adjunct to my LL.M. degree program.
The supervision provided by all the attorneys with whom I have worked proved valuable to my internship experience. I offer special commendation and thanks to Jack Simmons whose consistent willingness to work with me individually together with his useful guidance and advice was singularly beneficial.
Finally, I would hope that I might say, in General MacArthur's words, "I shall return." However, whether this quotation is at all appropriate rests to a large extent in your hands. For my part, allow me to say that I look forward with great eagerness to the possibility of returning to the Commission as an employee.
Highest personal regards and wishes for your continued success at the Commission.
Sincerely,
Gary Freedman
According to the psychoanalyst Gilbert Rose, creative people are "loss sensitive and separation prone."
ReplyDeleteI can still remember all these years later that Mr. Mabile's father died in January 1984. I believe his father lived in Florida.
A blog post about my loss sensitivity:
ReplyDeletehttp://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2010/11/creative-artist-loss-sensitive-and.html
The reference to the General MacArthur quote is psychoanalytically interesting.
ReplyDeleteThe small child who loses a parent often creates an unconscious fantasy of reunion with the lost parent.
MacArthur, incidentally, was a mama's boy.
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2009/09/in-praise-of-mamas-boy-case-of-telltale.html
"However, whether this quotation is at all appropriate rests to a large extent in your hands."
ReplyDeleteThis was a conscious allusion to one of President Roosevelt's last public speeches:
"Speaking in all frankness, the question of whether it is entirely fruitful or not lies to a great extent in your hands." FDR, 3/1/45
http://millercenter.org/president/speeches/detail/3338
The psychoanalyst Leonard Shengold describes a patient who was a victim of child abuse: "He spoke of life in military metaphor: as a war with battles, retreats, campaigns."
ReplyDeleteDr. Shengold's book was published in 1989, 5 years after I wrote this letter.