These golden days of September, these magnificent afternoons of late summer sun and deep shadows across the Onondaga Valley, seem about as beautiful as it can ever be, even if renewed routines of school and work make such a moment easy to overlook.
Dave Murray has an appreciation that, well, might help with our appreciation. He wakes up every morning and marvels at all of it, often before he goes to sell televisions and stereos at the legendary Ra-Lin discount store on Burnet Avenue — a business that to many of us represents one unique, bedrock piece of Syracuse.
Murray has a simple reason for his gratitude. For much of his life, he said, “I didn’t plan for the future because I didn’t think I had one.” In his 20s and 30s he was a late-night guy, drinking and partying as hard as he could because he figured he had absolutely nothing to lose…