When I arrived at the cardiac Intensive Care Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, Gene Mason was lying in his bed, conscious but sedated. He was suffering from complications after a six-way coronary bypass surgery—what Gene called his “triple double.” His blood pressure had been so high for so long that he had developed congestive heart failure, making it necessary for the operation.

Gene had really fallen apart this time, physically.

I looked out the ICU room window into the dark downtown Boston buildings on this grim and wet evening in November 2004. I had brought the book Seabiscuit to read to Gene. Seabiscuit was a thoroughbred that became a racing champion and national symbol of hope during the Depression. Although my friend was semi-conscious, he whispered to me the chapter in Seabiscuit that he wanted to hear. I sat down on a bedside chair, opened the book to the right page and began reading, marveling at how much Gene knew about Seabiscuit, and how horses, or stories about horses, brought peace to his mind and, perhaps, hope to his soul.

Gene L. Mason, Ph.D. is many things, but above all, he is a horseman. He was born in 1940 and raised in West Texas, a rural region with open sky, wind blown fields, and stunning vistas. His father was a cowboy from Wyoming. As a young man, Gene rode the rodeo and got to know horses, cattle, and guns. He could ride a horse in the vast wastelands and shoot his rifle in any direction without fear of hitting anyone or anything. He knew no boundaries. Perhaps the absence of limits made him risk-prone. He took extraordinary chances during his life, leading both to marvelous accomplishments and to dramatic setbacks.

During a lifetime of mercurial rises and stunning declines, Gene made perceptive choices but also abided by risky conduct. He went from making sound judgments in business to having good judgments made against him in courts.

Gene also has had a life-long battle with tobacco, drugs and alcohol addiction. He suffered tremendous professional, financial, physical, and personal losses. Addicted to cocaine, he went homeless and witnessed three of his mates die in drug shooting galleries. He himself spent several years incarcerated.

Gene’s life is a series of things falling apart and his efforts at picking up the pieces.

With a Ph.D. in political science, Gene taught at a leading American university from the mid '60s to the early '70s. He authored several books and numerous articles in refereed journals, journals of opinion, and law reviews. He worked on the Robert Kennedy presidential campaign and was himself once a candidate for the U.S. Congress. When Robert Kennedy was assassinated, Gene was standing near Ted Kennedy watching the tragic news on TV.

From then on, Gene’s political life, on the cusp of success, fell apart at the seams.

In the 1980s, he bounced back and built an 800-acre thoroughbred horse farm in Upstate New York from scratch. At its peak, Mason Farms bred 160 mares, stood 8 stallions, and grossed $500,000 a year. At the height of financial success at Mason Farm, Gene had seven automobiles, three tractors, and two bulldozers. He also had ample cash leftover after expenses, which he spent, in his words, “on fast living, fast cars, and faster women.”

His business life fell apart.

When he became homeless and penniless, he had only one car, which he slept in for a time. To support his drug and alcohol addictions in the 1990s, he committed petty thefts, and he was on a first-name basis with the loss prevention staff of most major department stores in Boston.

Even the basic part of his life, the day-to-day living of it, fell apart.

At 68, Gene now lives in Massachusetts. Since his release from Mass General Hospital and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital the day before Christmas in 2004, he has been picking up the pieces and getting back to sobriety, work, good health, and loving relationships with family and friends. Each morning he awakes at 5:00, walks a mile to a community center, and attends an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting. He walks back to his apartment and begins work via Internet and telephone on various consulting jobs to supplement his meager Social Security Disability Income.

Falling-Apart.net will publish a short chronicle on the life of Gene Mason. In keeping with its egalitarian nature, this human-interest magazine will portray the ups and downs of this remarkable man who is neither noted politician, public figure, movie star, nor celebrity. Gene is an ordinary American citizen who has had extraordinary experiences. His life is a partial reflection of Americana. He has lived some quintessential American issues over six decades: racism and rural poverty in the 50s and 60s; Robert Kennedy’s “politics of hope” in the late 60s; university life in the 70s; entrepreneurship in the 80s; homelessness, poverty, incarceration, addiction, and recovery in the 80s through the present.

Gene is a tremendous writer with a uniquely sensitive and powerful style. We trust readers will find much to ponder, reflect upon, wonder, and laugh about in his captivating story. Please read Gene’s piece accompanying this essay and more writings in upcoming editions of Falling-Apart.net.