Somebody now! New beginnings
It was my first day as a Midshipman at the U. S. Naval Academy. I had arrived along with other former enlisted men (no women then accepted) to start my plebe summer. Suddenly, “Attention. You got sixty second to get into formation. You are the sorriest bunch of plebes I have ever seen. You are no longer lowly enlisted men. You are officers and gentlemen. Start acting like it now.”
Well, so much for being special! I meekly said, “yes sir.” “What?” my new best friend asks. An even whimper reply came from me and my classmates.
Thus, began the next stage of my life journey. Over the next months I would discover how dumb, stupid, out of shape, and mentally deficient I was. Just in case I forgot, there was always an upper classman to remind me.
I was having a terrible time accepting that such mistreatment could lead me to the exalted position of being an officer and a gentleman possessing the privilege of abusing the next class of plebes.
Wait! There was more to my education. There were weekend afternoon tea dances. Young women who were appropriate for officers and gentlemen were imported from a nearby school to be paired up with one of us to dance while chaperones insured that we acted like officers and gentlemen. Often, there was much shuffling in line if it appeared that one would be paired with a young female who clearly fit the label of a brick. A brick was someone that clearly deserved the epitaph of ugly.
The dress uniform was clearly enough to assure mothers who moved to Annapolis to ensure that their daughters could be matched with an officer and a gentleman. Clearly, only young women with the right looks and pedigree need apply.
My education in the habits and the values of an officer and a gentleman progressed. To be sure, it was expected that we would work hard on our studies, be painfully honest (in some areas of life), learn to be disciplined in all areas of our lives, and learn that we as individuals, soon to be graduates of the United States Naval Academy, and as a country were far superior to others.
Clearly I was not cut out to be an officer and a gentleman. Yet, this was another step in the education of this country boy. What did I learn? One cannot judge a book by its cover? The tension between what I had understood to the core message of Jesus and what I was learning about officers, gentlemen and what one should value was very great.
Most of all I learned a lot about my own vulnerability to being puffed with false pride; of allowing the values of others to determine my worth.
It turned out the new beginning was a new chapter in learning to trust values which made sense to me. Even today, I may be able to pass as an officer and a gentleman, but I know!
493 words.
Written July 19, 2017
It was my first day as a Midshipman at the U. S. Naval Academy. I had arrived along with other former enlisted men (no women then accepted) to start my plebe summer. Suddenly, “Attention. You got sixty second to get into formation. You are the sorriest bunch of plebes I have ever seen. You are no longer lowly enlisted men. You are officers and gentlemen. Start acting like it now.”
Well, so much for being special! I meekly said, “yes sir.” “What?” my new best friend asks. An even whimper reply came from me and my classmates.
Thus, began the next stage of my life journey. Over the next months I would discover how dumb, stupid, out of shape, and mentally deficient I was. Just in case I forgot, there was always an upper classman to remind me.
I was having a terrible time accepting that such mistreatment could lead me to the exalted position of being an officer and a gentleman possessing the privilege of abusing the next class of plebes.
Wait! There was more to my education. There were weekend afternoon tea dances. Young women who were appropriate for officers and gentlemen were imported from a nearby school to be paired up with one of us to dance while chaperones insured that we acted like officers and gentlemen. Often, there was much shuffling in line if it appeared that one would be paired with a young female who clearly fit the label of a brick. A brick was someone that clearly deserved the epitaph of ugly.
The dress uniform was clearly enough to assure mothers who moved to Annapolis to ensure that their daughters could be matched with an officer and a gentleman. Clearly, only young women with the right looks and pedigree need apply.
My education in the habits and the values of an officer and a gentleman progressed. To be sure, it was expected that we would work hard on our studies, be painfully honest (in some areas of life), learn to be disciplined in all areas of our lives, and learn that we as individuals, soon to be graduates of the United States Naval Academy, and as a country were far superior to others.
Clearly I was not cut out to be an officer and a gentleman. Yet, this was another step in the education of this country boy. What did I learn? One cannot judge a book by its cover? The tension between what I had understood to the core message of Jesus and what I was learning about officers, gentlemen and what one should value was very great.
Most of all I learned a lot about my own vulnerability to being puffed with false pride; of allowing the values of others to determine my worth.
It turned out the new beginning was a new chapter in learning to trust values which made sense to me. Even today, I may be able to pass as an officer and a gentleman, but I know!
493 words.
Written July 19, 2017
RSS Feed