Читать книгу Becoming a Counselor - Samuel Gladding T., Samuel T. Gladding - Страница 31

I was never picked on in high school. Maybe one reason why is that I took precautions. I married the football team (and later one of their players in what was described as a “womanless wedding”). I became a football manager from my sophomore year on. For a guy who was 5 feet 2 and 115 pounds, the move was sheer finesse. After all, in the 1960s, football was wildly popular in Georgia. To be their best, football players relied on managers for everything from getting good equipment to getting a proper pregame ankle taping. Therefore, managers were treated favorably. Instead of depending on a guardian angel to protect me from those who might have thought of picking on me, I relied on about 50 guys who were considered the biggest, strongest, and toughest in the school environment.

The arrangement worked well. I went out of my way to supply members of the team with whatever they needed. Many of them in turn hung out with me before, during, and after school. As an extra insurance policy, although I did not need it, I became the athletic editor of the yearbook my senior year. Did I have friends? Yes, and no overt enemies. Plus, I had a lot of fun both on and off the field, whether it was packing and carrying equipment or picking and placing photographs with just the right captions for the annual.

I look back on those years and activities with pleasure and intrigue. No one told me or even encouraged me to get close to the biggest and strongest guys in the high school. It was just something I did because I knew on an instinctive level that it would offer me safety. It also gave me a chance to participate vicariously in a dramatic game that I would never play except virtually and on an informal basis. Plus, I developed many lifelong friendships.

Over the years I have watched other people do similar things in their environments. It is as if most of us have a feel for what will work in our lives. The difference between those who succeed and those who do not, I think, is a willingness to trust themselves and take a risk that they might be right. When that does not happen, individuals often become alienated from themselves and from others.