Malcolm GauldOver Thanksgiving I spent some time cleaning out my email box and came across some cyber bit & pieces that, for whatever reason, I have not been able to throw out….er….delete. Thought I’d recycle some here.
From an e-mail to an alum who had been struggling in college (and has since returned with gusto):
I have watched hundreds of Hyde graduates go off to college during my 30 years here and I can tell you that your story is a common one. Look at it this way, you now know some things that do not work and some things that do. It has been said that the trouble with life is that it must be lived forward but can only be understood in reverse. Now you must apply your new understanding and make it work for you.
If there is anything that I hope Hyde kids will learn, it is that they will come to accept (I’ll come back to that.) the hands that they are dealt and play them the best way they can. Your hand holds some awesome cards. Here are the ones I know you hold:
– You were born in America.
– You enjoy freedom from want (food, shelter, medical care, etc.)
– You come from a 2-parent family with a mother and father who love you unconditionally.
– You happen to come from parents who are able to provide you with an almost unlimited education that is second to none.
– You have enough going for you to gain admission to one of the world’s truly great universities.
– You have the opportunity to enjoy a second chance from that same university.
Imagine that all of the people in the world who are your age got together and compared the hands that they hold. Now ponder the fact that the number of young people who would not trade hands with you would be some number south of 1%.
Onward, Malcolm Gauld