Rhinelander 4 Values

The area code is upper east side between about 56th street and 79th street and between 5th Avenue and Third Avenue.

Over half the people in that area code held the values I will describe.

Out of that half, about 60% actually practiced the values most of the time.

Nobody, in my experience, practiced all the values all the time.

The Values are 3 fold:

1. Do not lie.
2. Do not cheat.
3. Do not steal.

They mattered because many RH-4 people were quite well off. And to stay that way, they had to trust each other. So all the kids went the harsh and rigorous prep schools, and many went to colleges with extremely high standards for student performance and personal conduct. Beyond that, we all went the dancing school, usually at Durham’s School of the Dance on 61st and Park, and many went to military school, often at the Knickerbocker Greys, and to summer camp, often at Adirondack, which was run by Colonel Warrick, who also commanded the Knickerbocker Greys.

Many of us became Wall Street lawyers, or stock brokers. Most remained members of “society” and stayed in New York City.

So it was like a fraternity. It was like a company at the Naval Academy. It was tightly knit. And we depended on each other to be honest, capable, and worthy of trust. Everybody was everybody else’s banker, broker, trustee, art dealer, or gem seller. Although there were some Van Cleef and Arpel people that lived on the Upper West Side, and some that lived at Central Park South.

Jack Chrystler, son of the car guy was my pal in those days, and he lived across the street from me and went to the same schools and summer camp. He drove a Maseratti, and he drove it fast. It sounded like a train, with a deep rumble. It moved like a rocket.

I went to Rosey in Switzerland so I missed four years of the NYC scene. But mom was on the Cotillion Committee and I got to go to all the big dances — as a floor committee member, which entailed a big blue horse ribbon that signified the floor committee duties and privileges. First you had to go to Durham’s a learn to dance. Then you had to walk round the room and scoop up any wallflower girl and ask her to dance. Refusal was not done. She always said yes. Beyond that, you could cut in on any couple at any time and take the girl for one dance. Again, no refusal, the horse ribbon was your badge.

There were dances I could not learn at Durham’s for reasons of decorum. Argentine back alley Tango for example. But that could be learned on 7th Avenue if you went there with a roll of 50’s.

I tried to learn it in Greenwich Village but they said “no” in a big huff. Indecent, they would not teach a 12 year old the Argentine Tango. Standards all round were pretty high in those days. Not that we all came out pure and good, but at least we knew what it was.

I spent much of my youth hoping to blow people up with high explosives. Learned how. But never did it. Closest was my time as JAG to a SEAL team out in the Philippines — and they let me tag along as an observer on some of their training exercises. Even at age 75, if many Woke people were all congregating in one tall building … well let’s just say, I’m made of flesh and blood, and subject to the instincts and urges that most RH-4 people would feel toward the Woke, ignorant vicious ragamuffins of socialist evil pfuie pfuie, spit spit bits of them flying red mist through the air would, I’m ashamed to say, please me very much. No, I’m not asking for that for Christmas. I aspire to mellowness, and get alongness, and inclusion, like that — the Summer of Love kind of thing.

Here on my page there’s nobody to kick me off. I say what is so, and what it pleases me to tell you. If you feel violated or harmed then do not read this post. Whoops, too late again, with my trigger warning. Well just nunc pro tunc it, and pretend I told you at the top. There’s good readers. Let’s make life “safe” and also eternal, for sure, with a seat next to God at the head table, where the standing rib roast is plentiful, and there’s lot of chocolates, and marzipan.