Robert D. Siano, Esq. has practiced law for over thirteen years and is an experienced attorney that handles matters involving entertainment, including intellectual property, contracts, and licensing.
Hi, my name is Robert Siano, and I'm an attorney. I'm here today to speak about death. My personal experiences with death. First being when I was 21. My best friend, he had died of heroin overdose. It came as a complete shock to me. I didn't realize my friends were using drugs. At the time, we were 16, 17 years old, and alcohol was difficult to get. Let alone these kind of drugs. And when he passed, it was an extremely difficult time. It was also a time where I knew I had to make a choice that I could use the depression either to propel me to something better, to do something good with my pain. Or, to fall back into using alcohol, maybe even more, maybe leading to other drugs, and falling into that spiral. I'm happy to say that I chose the latter. I've never been comfortable, not being in control of myself. Seeing your best friend talking to the front rear-end of your vehicle, as if there was green goblin sitting on the front scared me. Along with all my other friends, and I've lost eight other friends to similar tragedies. Car accidents, DWIs and so-forth I represented em, some as an attorney, and it hits home, and after awhile sometimes I wonder, do I even struggle with death. My grandfather recently died, he was 90. And I didn't shed a tear. I wonder have I become desensitized. I don't think I've become desensitized. I think I firmly believe that whether you've given 21 years or 91 years, it doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter how long your life is. It's what you do with it. My friend that I speak of, his name was LJ Trainer. With his 21 years, I think he lived as much as my grandfather did at 91. When my grandfather got busted, I know he's watching me but if God gave me a contract, and I'm an attorney, and said, "Rob, you can have 91 years." I'd sign that contract right now. The one thing I can say to a lot of people who are probably struggling with this, that it's easier to let yourself go into drugs, to mask all that pain, but it's harder to stay away from those drugs. But if you do long enough, you look back and you say you yourself have grown. That is the most important thing, I think, I've learned from all the death, that has been around me.
Last Updated: September 10, 2021
