Two Lessons Learned – Part One

What do Sylvia Agulia and David Beaird have in common?  Nothing, other than each of them taught me an important lesson early in my life. I have learned that wisdom is where you find it, often without expecting to.

Mrs. Agulia was my Latin teacher in high school.  She had been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Rome, and I found her photos and discussion of the Roman Forum and Coliseum far more interesting than conjugating Latin verbs.

During the first semester of my senior year I was going steady with my girlfriend, who later became my wife, and discovered that making out with her was a lot more fun than studying anything, especially Latin.

Pete Lippman sat in front of me in Latin class.  Pete was very smart (he ended up at Cal Tech), but in his senior year of high school he had his own distraction – a new motorcycle.  So it is understandable that each of our final grades hovered between an “A- “and a “B+.”

When Mrs. Agulia handed back our final exam I received an “A- “but Pete had gotten a “B+”.  I was thrilled, because I always suspected that she liked Pete better than me.  Maybe I was not at the top of her “favorite student” list because I often spoke up in class without being called on.  On this particular occasion I blurted out in front of the entire class, “Mrs. Agulia – this is great.  I got an “A-” and Pete got a “B+.”  So if you give Pete an “A” as his final grade you’ll have to give me an “A” too.  I may have smirked.

She calmly fixed me with her “teacher” stare and said, “Alan, I don’t have to do anything”.

I was sixteen then and still had a lot to learn.

More than sixty years later those words, “I don’t have to do anything,” still ring in my ears.

On my report card my final grade was a “B+.”  Pete’s final grade was an “A-.”

While it’s important to speak up for yourself (see Part Two of this blog next week), I never tell a police officer who has pulled me over, “You can’t give me a ticket.”  Never.  And I never argue with clerks.  I just thank them for their help.

Mrs. Agulia – thanks for the tip, even though, at the time, it felt as if you had fed me to the lions.

Alan