Tag: discipline

• Shipyard Scars at Sixteen

  At sixteen, Richard M. Dell’Orfano worked in an East Boston shipyard where danger, steel, and sweat forged resilience that modern comfort no longer demands of young men.

  RMDell’Orfano

  May 26, 2026

  Autobio

  American culture, Civilian Conservation Corps, Coming of age, discipline, East Boston, hard work, hardship, industrial labor, masculinity crisis, memoir excerpt, moral equivalent of war, Path Perilous, Peace Corps, physical reality, resilience, shipyard labor, William James, working class, young men

• His Money for My Life

  A sharply dressed heir seeks investment advice from a man kneeling in the dirt, plucking caterpillars into a jar—revealing a deeper divide between wealth and a life lived with purpose.

  RMDell’Orfano

  April 22, 2026

  Autobio

  caterpillars, Chapter 43, contemplation, discipline, garden scene, investment philosophy, memoir excerpt, Path Perilous, real estate insight, rural life, San Marcos, simple living, spiritual vs material, tomato garden, wealth contrast