Reaffirming my Role

osugrad21 · #1 (**permalink**) 11-16-2005, 08:51 PM

Sometimes we all need a little perspective in life...something to reaffirm why we are actually here I guess.

A number of you received my weekly PM detailing that friday's game. As some of you know, I lost one of my best players to a nasty knee injury in week seven. The initial evaluation said three torn ligaments and probably the end of his career. His surgery was yesterday and I took two players with me to visit him in the hospital today. He was on too much morphine to really carry on much of a conversation, but his mom gave me the great news that only the ACL was actually torn. He will be back on the field next year.

However, the reaffirmation came after we left the hospital and headed for a bite to eat. We passed an Outback Steakhouse and the boys started chattering about the commercials they always see. I asked the question and was told neither had ever actually been to an Outback...of course we did a U-turn right there as I am a firm believer that no American citizen should ever be deprived of the Outback experience.

We sat down and I ordered a Bloomin' Onion while the boys stared wide eyed at the menu. Again, I didn't realize how ignorant I was to the situation until the Onion came. One of the boys asked the waitress for some napkins...he was completely oblivious to the fact that he was supposed to use the linen containing his silverware. It really hit home when neither boy knew how to order...when the waitress asked how one wanted his steak cooked, he read her the menu "grilled and seared to perfection." On the outside, I smiled, but my soul was honestly bruised. The waitress was great as she patiently explained the various ways to cook the steak. After she left, I showed them how to fold and place the linen on the lap, but by now, their nerves were really working them over. Of course, the huge chunks of meat we devoured eased those nerves and the dessert certainly made every little discomfort go away.

As I drove home, all I could think about was how damn fortunate I was to have the childhood and teen years that I experienced. By the time I was a teenager, I was a veteran of restaurants, knew that I would have clean clothes to choose from every morning, and it was a fact that Mom would have something for me to eat when I got home from practice. These seventeen year old boys had never been to a decent restaurant. Their only experience was fast food or a local diner. I cannot fathom that. I always had a confidence in certain things...basically took them for granted. Christmas would be a time to load up, someone would make my birthday special, and I would have new clothes for every school year. How could everyone not have that?

I am a teacher and a coach. The salary of my profession is the punchline of many jokes.

However, nights like tonight have me convinced that this is where I am supposed to be and a bigger salary would not replace the goldmine I am in right now.

One of the boys, who is becoming more of a major D-1 prospect every day, said to me, " Coach, when I sign that big contract, I'm gonna make your life easy."

You already do kid. You make it better every day.

This was the best damn $90 I ever spent.

Buckeyeskickbuttocks · #2 (**permalink**) 11-16-2005, 08:56 PM

THIS gets a GPA!

Make sure you still kick their asses next fall though

LoKyBuckeye · #3 (**permalink**) 11-16-2005, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buckeyeskickbuttocks

THIS gets a GPA!

Make sure you still kick their asses next fall though

beat you to it BKB.... just gave him one

great post grad....

methomps · #4 (**permalink**) 11-16-2005, 08:57 PM

Hell of a post, Grad

tedginn05 · #5 (**permalink**) 11-16-2005, 08:58 PM

Damn, was it just you and the two kids. $90 seems a little steep.

But it all goes to a good cause, nobody should ever be deprived of a Bloomin' Onion.

Thump · #6 (**permalink**) 11-16-2005, 08:59 PM

grad21,

That's the things that makes most of us teachers.

I wouldn't trade experiences like that for any sum of money.

When you see the home lives some of these students live, you see why school is the 3rd or 4th most important thing in their life instead of 1st like we'd like to think it should be.

I have kids who come from homes where parents fight or beat them every night, live in hotels, don't get any meals except at school, and have siblings and parents who have died all before age 12. Heck, if my family had even moved while I was in school, I'd have been devastated, let alone what these kids go through.

Thanks for the positive post grad21. There's somedays when you just want to bang your head through a wall with these kids but it's instances like this that they and you will never forget.

Someone please give this man a Great Post award.

Thank you.