By:Elizabeth Sagarin
At 67, Oceanside author decides to get a message across
There aren't that many retired people out there just getting their writing careers off the ground. There are even fewer grappling with topics like abortion, religion and mental retardation in the same book.
But for 67-year-old Rita Whitman Steingold, an Oceanside resident since 1982, writing stories that foster a deeper understanding of developmentally disabled children, and the lives of people around them, is something she's been looking forward to for many years.
"They want to go ahead and play golf, I only want to write," she said.
Her novella "Tag Sale," which was recently published online, is informed by her 25-year career as a teacher of developmentally disabled children. She uses a tag sale that a man holds after the death of his wife as a springboard from which to leap into the thought processes of a family with knowledge of a developmentally
disabled fetus.
A dialogue between the elderly widower, Sam, and the man, Joe, he hired to run the sale reveals some of the reasons behind his bitter disapproval over his daughter even considering continuing a pregnancy with a child that in all likelihood will be severely impaired.
The tawdry manner in which the shoppers riffle through the items in the home his wife, Selma, worked her whole life to make, nicely parallels the exchange between Sam and his daughter, Donna. Her values run contrary to his, or at least that's the way he feels. Like the items for sale, his values are being cheapened and reduced to nickels and dimes.
This is one more rebuke to Sam's traditional Jewish identity. The chasm that was created after his daughter married an Irish Catholic doctor has now widened and he is reeling from that and the prospect of losing his sight.
Steingold says she has no other agenda than to make people realize that there is always hope. Her objective with the book is to convey that life shouldn't be given up on if it doesn't turn out perfect.
"I don't think anybody's perfect. We shouldn't be looking for perfection," she said.
As a child, she came to know the despair that comes with disappointment over life's uncertainty. Her father went deaf and as a result secluded himself from the world and his family.
That could have been avoided, she said, if there hadn't been a stigma associated with a disability and proper services were provided. Especially today, with the many programs and services out there, she said, there is no reason to believe that people with disabilities can't have a place in the society.
Despite being convinced that all children are capable of bringing joy to a family and the world, Steingold paints a sympathetic picture of a man convinced otherwise. Her objective with the book, she said, is to bring those kinds of sentiments to light and show people through a compassionate portrayal the error of their ways.
However, she doesn't view the book as advocating a pro-life agenda. "People should love a child with a disability the same as a regular child," she said.
To view an excerpt of Steingold's novella log onto www.enovel.com or pay $4 to view the whole thing.
