That Guy in the Glass

We reopened on this beautiful spring morning in full swing as if not a day had passed since we broke March 19. Saint David's has traditionally chosen the two consecutive week option for spring break, as opposed to the alternate week in late winter and week in mid-spring option. Two consecutive weeks allows for real recharge--for the boys and their teachers. With that said, I love the days the boys return after vacations. Without them, after all, we don't really have a school ... just a building.

One of the books I'm currently reading is Season of Life: A Football Star, a Boy, a Journey to Manhood by Jeffrey Marx. In it, the author makes reference to a poem he read as a child hanging outside the Baltimore Colts 1974 locker room entitled "That Guy in the Glass." It follows:

When you get what you want in your struggle for self
and the world makes you king for a day,
then go to the mirror and look at yourself
and see what that guy has to say.

For it isn't your mother, brother or friends
whose judgment you must pass.
The person whose verdict counts most in your life
is the one staring back in the glass.

You can go down the pathway of years
receiving pats on the back as you pass,
but your final reward will be heartbreak and tears
if you cheated that guy in the glass.

Although a little longer in the original version, penned by Peter "Dale" Wimbrow, Sr. in 1934, and entitled "The Guy in the Glass," the poem sums up nicely the sentiment of the book. I'm not sure I buy Marx's full premise, but I do think this short poem carries an important message for us as we reflect on our school-wide theme "The Good" during our final term.

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