Why is Thad Glad?

It’s 2024 and that means I graduated from high school forty years ago. This milestone is yet another reminder about the speed of time.   

I feel nostalgic about my time in high school. I am looking forward to our reunion, though I want everybody to look like they did in 1984. I want the impossible ability to return to the time of my rose-colored memories. 

I occasionally think about the teachers and coaches who positively impacted my life. My sports coaches served as supplementary father figures as I worked hard to be successful in football and track under their guidance.^Vikes Mr. Mohan taught me how to write by imposing high standards about the right and wrong of writing.  I specifically recall his promise to give failing grades for essays submitted using passive voice. It was not until college and my corporate career that appreciated the gift of his high standards. I adopted his passive voice aversion and enforced his standards while reviewing documents from subordinates.  However, the lesson I have thought about most since leaving high school came from Mr. Polito, our shop teacher.^Others

I first encountered Mr. Polito as a freshman, when I took introductory metal shop and plastic shop classes. Mr. Polito was a no-nonsense grizzly bear of a man.  He was big, tough and intimidating and oozed a take-no-crap demeanor.  I later had him for mechanical drawing classes.  Mr. Polito added to his tough reputation by showing some of us the small black forearm tattoo that he said he got in a prisoner of war camp.

According to my memory, people who took mechanical drawing existed in roughly two categories:  1 – aspiring engineers and architects who typically took more difficult math and science classes, and 2 – students who tended to take vocationally focused classes.  To further generalize, Category 1 students were more future oriented and academically serious and Category 2 students were more fun and present focused. Sometimes, I wish I was more of a Category 2 person. 

One of the Category 2 students that I will call Gerry used to routinely ask nutty things, like “Hey Mr. Polito, can I throw this chair out the window?” or “Hey Mr. Polito, can I skip class and go out for pizza?” In each case Mr. Polito calmly responded in his deep voice, “You can do anything you want as long as you accept responsibility for your actions.” Gerry had no counter response. Mr. Polito avoided Gerry’s baiting by calmly making it clear that you cannot avoid responsibility for the foreseeable consequences of your actions.  What a great rule for life.

I have heard the echo of Mr. Polito words more than a few times years since I graduated. The context was usually during internal mental debates about cutting a corner, avoiding something difficult, omitting a relevant fact, or downplaying my role in a problem.

I also have fun imagining situations where I wish people had consulted with Mr. Polito before acting. Here are some examples:

• George H.W. Bush: “Hey Mr. Polito, should we invade Iraq?”

• Hamas: “Hey Mr. Polito, should we massacre hundreds of Israeli civilians?”^Complicated

• Americans: “Hey Mr. Polito, should demand that politicians provide generous services and benefits while keeping taxes low.” ^1Issue

What I know now but did not know in the 1980’s is that like many teachers and coaches, Mr. Polito did not just teach shop; he taught life.  Perhaps this is the kind of lesson that one cannot understand as an insecure teenager trying to get through high school while thinking about college and beyond.

Several years ago, I tried to track down Mr. Polito by contacting his niece, Tammy, who was in my high school class. It was too late. He had died.  I wanted to learn more about him but could not find his obituary on-line.  In my brief email interaction with Tammy, I learned that Mr. Polito was more of a teddy bear than a grizzly bear.  I think he was also quite a joker.  I am pretty sure that he did not have a prisoner of war tattoo.  I bet he had a healthy dose of Category 2.  

Mr. Polito is just one of many people that I wish I took time to get to know when I had the chance. Regardless, I will go to my reunion feeling thankful for that time in my life, even if we all look forty years older.

Footnotes, Extras, and Bloopers:

^VikesCoaches: Pinto, Weiss, Halfacre, Gleason, Jiorlie, Gratz, Bonavita, Musician, and others regrettably omitted.  I cannot over emphasize how much sports shaped my life.  One reason was they were the gateway to weightlifting, which I always contend is the best way to connect effort with results.  I also like to say that exercise is a key to mental and physical health – at least is has been for me. Thanks Coaches! PS – I confirmed that my high school discus record still stands. I never would have imagined that.

^OthersMr. Farber (Rest in Peace) was the only math teacher that I remember because I had him for several years in a row and owe him my now lost understanding of Calculus.  I still have a little guilt about laughing at him for an embarrassing situation involving the status of his zipper. Sorry Mr. Farber, you deserved better.  I owe Mr. Armagost a big debt for giving me an A in physics. I started with a D and steadily improved, ending the final quarter with an A and an A on the final.  For all I know this grade made me competitive for my eventual admission to the Naval Academy.  Life might be a lot different for me if things went the other way. 

^Complicated A potential flaw in my thinking is the view that Hamas regrets the consequences of their attack.  Unfortunately, I think their strategy expected Israel’s counterattack and impact on civilians.  I want to pretend otherwise.  I also want to ignore reports that 70% of the residents of Gaza supported the attack. Consequences happen despite my delusions.

^1IssueI am a single-issue voter. That issue is the debt and deficit. Unfortunately, I rarely have a candidate who agrees.  I have the mindset that we get the politicians that we deserve.  Lost in reports of trillions of dollars of debt accumulated and billions in annual deficits is the simple fact that in the current fiscal year, the government spends 30% more than it collects in revenue.  Politicians ignore the magnitude of the problem because voters ignore it. Instead, pols offer unrealistic tropes, like we can grow our way out of it or millionaires and billionaires can solve it by paying their fair share.  If you would like to dig deeper, I recommend Manhattan Institute Plan to Avert a Debt Crisis.  (People tell me that the Manhattan Institute is a right wing think tank.  While that may be true, this report will not sound partisan).  As Robert Lewis Stephenson once said, “Sooner or later we all sit down to a banquet of consequences.”