Post
by Mike Cash » Wed 02.21.2007 11:06 am
My longtime hero has been my high school principal, a man of outstanding principle.
On the first day of school we had an assembly in which he addressed us and informed us that we were all to memorize the school's rules, a feat which the entire class of incoming freshman was able to accomplish quite easily. I'll share with you here the complete list of rules:
1. Do right
End of list.
He said, and I have to paraphrase here, "You're all young men and young women. If you don't know the difference between right and wrong by now you don't have any business being here. So if you do something and find yourself in my office, don't look surprised and try to say you didn't know what you did was wrong." His motto was "The right way or the highway." and he meant it when he said, "I'll put your ass out on 45 (the highway that ran near the school)," as several students learned the hard way.
At the time (early 80s) ours was the only high school in the entire state which had designated smoking areas for the students, something he had to go to the state capital and make his case for. He said he'd rather have the smokers right out in the open where he could see them than have to be hunting for them and worrying about them setting the school on fire.
In my entire life, I have had precisely three compliments which have meant a great deal to me, in that they were actually comments made about me to others and which I learned of later. One of them was from him. He said, "I could be broken down in a ditch somewhere at three o'clock in the morning and call Michael Cash and I know he'd be right there to get me." The comment/compliment has served me as a lifelong reminder of the importance of being reliable.
While I'm at it, I suppose I may as well mention the other two.
One was from a lady who worked in the cafeteria on the serving line. She was a longtime friend of my mother and one day told her that my brother and I were the only two people in the entire student body (about 500) who always said "please" and "thank you". Contrary to what some here may think, I do have good manners.
The third was from a gruff officer aboard my ship while I was in the Navy, an engineering officer who had come up through the enlisted ranks. I served as a wardroom attendant for 90 days, serving meals, cleaning officers' staterooms, and schlepping their laundry back and forth to the ship's laundry. After I had finished my temporary tour in the wardroom my successor once asked me, "Did Mr. Ryan like you?" I replied, "Not that I could ever tell. Why?" "Because the other day he said, 'How come things are squared away like they were when Cash was up here?'" This pointed out to me that there are people who notice a job done properly even when you think you're not being supervised.
Never underestimate my capacity for pettiness.
but if your heart is in the right place you'd definitely pick Zeo. 
