I am darned proud of my apprentice, and for good reason I should say.
This young man learned more in five days of working with me than he did in ten months of working on his previous crew.
He’s going to make a darned fine tradesman.
I hope to God that I will be there to shake his hand on the day he gets his book.
I could feel it in him — the surprise, the shock, the suppressed delight — the first time that I called him “brother,” though it was casual on my part. I was on my way to the gate, and I said as I passed him, “I’ll see you in the morning. Take care, brother.” That word carries weight. Its value is beyond earthly possessions.
He’s started his classes now, twice a week (these days, apprentices graduate with an associate of applied sciences degree). The one is the Heritage class. On the first test, about the Molly Maguires, he was the only one in the class to make 100%.
There were a few of the redneck persuasion in his class that made some bigoted remarks, and he told them off. He decided that he wanted to redo his report to make it about a minority figure, but he wasn’t sure who.
I suggested the famous organizer, Martin Luther King. It was during the course of his organizing activities that he went to Memphis, to help in organizing the sanitation workers there, that he was shot.
He liked the idea. He was unaware that King was an organizer, and wanted to learn more about him. I told him that I would bring him a book of King’s.
I happened to have Strength to Love in my hotel room with me, on my third reading. I didn’t want to give it up, but I took it to him the next morning. I can get another copy.
Another journeyman that breaks in the same area as we do is from Memphis. We talked a bit at lunch about King’s activities shortly before he was shot, and what Memphis was like then.
Reverend King packed some powerful messages into that little book. I would like to share with you some excerpts, but that will have to be at a later time.
One thing that really sticks out to me is his teaching on the Good Samaritan; that the Samaritan said, “Take this, and when I return, I will bring you more.” The teaching is that when we have gone the second mile, we have done no more than what is expected of us. We must go beyond that second mile. That is our calling. Only then can we say that we have done anything.
The other is his teachings on a tough mind and a tender heart. Soft-mindedness and hard-heartedness are both vices that reveal deficiencies of character. A tough mind must be tempered by a tender heart. These two traits are necessary to realize any degree of manliness. We are not those to engage in such perverse inversions that would hold juvenility as manliness; our calling is greater than this, and so much more is expected of us.
You see, my grandfather, the one I am named after, was the superintendant of a refinery all the time that I was growing up. I remember being out there in the refinery with him before I had even started school, when I was something like four years old. I can stand on a length of 3” pipe for five hours or better without losing my balance. I understand the dangers well.
I don’t go down easy. And I’m not going down without a fight. When I choose my time, I’m going to make it count.
I’ll tell you more about my grandfather some other day.
Today, I am darned proud of my apprentice, my young brother.
God give me the strength to watch over him, and to teach him well.
This young man learned more in five days of working with me than he did in ten months of working on his previous crew.
He’s going to make a darned fine tradesman.
I hope to God that I will be there to shake his hand on the day he gets his book.
I could feel it in him — the surprise, the shock, the suppressed delight — the first time that I called him “brother,” though it was casual on my part. I was on my way to the gate, and I said as I passed him, “I’ll see you in the morning. Take care, brother.” That word carries weight. Its value is beyond earthly possessions.
He’s started his classes now, twice a week (these days, apprentices graduate with an associate of applied sciences degree). The one is the Heritage class. On the first test, about the Molly Maguires, he was the only one in the class to make 100%.
There were a few of the redneck persuasion in his class that made some bigoted remarks, and he told them off. He decided that he wanted to redo his report to make it about a minority figure, but he wasn’t sure who.
I suggested the famous organizer, Martin Luther King. It was during the course of his organizing activities that he went to Memphis, to help in organizing the sanitation workers there, that he was shot.
He liked the idea. He was unaware that King was an organizer, and wanted to learn more about him. I told him that I would bring him a book of King’s.
I happened to have Strength to Love in my hotel room with me, on my third reading. I didn’t want to give it up, but I took it to him the next morning. I can get another copy.
Another journeyman that breaks in the same area as we do is from Memphis. We talked a bit at lunch about King’s activities shortly before he was shot, and what Memphis was like then.
Reverend King packed some powerful messages into that little book. I would like to share with you some excerpts, but that will have to be at a later time.
One thing that really sticks out to me is his teaching on the Good Samaritan; that the Samaritan said, “Take this, and when I return, I will bring you more.” The teaching is that when we have gone the second mile, we have done no more than what is expected of us. We must go beyond that second mile. That is our calling. Only then can we say that we have done anything.
The other is his teachings on a tough mind and a tender heart. Soft-mindedness and hard-heartedness are both vices that reveal deficiencies of character. A tough mind must be tempered by a tender heart. These two traits are necessary to realize any degree of manliness. We are not those to engage in such perverse inversions that would hold juvenility as manliness; our calling is greater than this, and so much more is expected of us.
He gave them a formula for action, "Be ye therefore as wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." ... We must combine the toughness of the serpent with the softness of the dove, a tough mind and a tender heart.If you knew me well, you would understand that I’m not afraid of death. I respect death, and I understand the finality of it; but I’m not afraid of it. I’m afraid of going down without a fight. I’m not about to let that happen, to give myself up over some small act of foolishness. When my time comes, I’m going to make it count.
The tough mind is sharp and penetrating, breaking through the crust of legends and myths and sifting the true from the false. The tough-minded individual is astute and discerning. He has a strong austere quality that makes for firmness of purpose and solidness of commitment.
Who doubts that this toughness is one of man's greatest needs? Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.
There is little hope for us until we become toughminded enough to break loose from the shackles of prejudice, half-truths, and downright ignorance.
But we must not stop with the cultivation of a tough mind. The gospel also demands a tender heart. ... What is more tragic than to see a person who has risen to the disciplined heights of toughmindedness but has at the same time sunk to the passionless depths of hardheartedness?
You see, my grandfather, the one I am named after, was the superintendant of a refinery all the time that I was growing up. I remember being out there in the refinery with him before I had even started school, when I was something like four years old. I can stand on a length of 3” pipe for five hours or better without losing my balance. I understand the dangers well.
I don’t go down easy. And I’m not going down without a fight. When I choose my time, I’m going to make it count.
I’ll tell you more about my grandfather some other day.
Today, I am darned proud of my apprentice, my young brother.
God give me the strength to watch over him, and to teach him well.
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