This Just In…

Dan Kempner

Death comes to every man, of course, sooner or later. A. Justin Sterling’s came later: he died last month at 82.

The public career of Justin Sterling has been a checkered one. He’s been branded a cultist, an abuser, a scam artist, a criminal, and also a life saver – sometimes all by the same people.

I don’t know what he actually was as I couldn’t have picked Justin Sterling out of a lineup. I never met the man and never attended the Weekend he created.

About the only thing I know for sure is that the hard work I put in to be more honorable, to be a better example to children, and to hold brotherhood, maturity, and accountability as basic tenets of my life, come from the men I know who did.

A significant fraction of those men credit Sterling, and the Weekend, with having an enormously positive impact on their lives and relationships. In large part through the ideas and exertions presented by A. Justin Sterling a/k/a Arthur Kasarjian, Mentor Discover Iinspire – an organization I cherish – came to be.

I don’t know what Justin Sterling was like with his friends. I also don’t know why his marriages failed or anything about his finances or beliefs. Now that he has died, I never will. 

Jesus of Nazareth was once quoted as saying, “by their works shall ye know them,” suggesting that a rotten tree can’t create good fruits any more than a good tree can bring forth rotten ones. Maybe that’s true for a carpenter but even a rudimentary knowledge of agriculture suggests that both rotten and pristine apples can be found on the same branch.

Besides, men and women aren’t apples. We’re complex creatures capable both of greatness and its opposite at once. We may behave shamefully on Tuesday, then create something wonderful and important next morning. 

So who knows what else Sterling was up to, and how many of those labels actually applied. All I can say from my own experience is that at least one of his ‘works’ has had a tremendous impact for good. The men I know, the men I am on teams with, or hang out with, or call when I need help… those men have attended the Weekend and did meet Justin Sterling. Their conduct, their lives – now filled with noble purpose and powerful commitments – suggest to me that the Weekend, whatever the saintliness or foibles of the man who ran it, was the real deal.

For that work, at least, Justin has my gratitude.