By Tommie Saylor
Kennedy High School Principal
Winners do what losers aren’t
willing to do.
I have said this over, and over, and
over again, but some messages are so important that they bear repeating. In
most cases, I strive to remain calm even in the most difficult times. I
do so because when I was a young man, I experienced anger issues and had to
learn to “keep my cool” when plans go wrong. Because of this, most have
never seen me truly angry. I try very hard to suppress such negative emotions.
But, once in a while I slip and a
little poisonous antagonism oozes out. This was the case with my daughter this
last week.
My younger daughter, 20, came home
after “running around” with her friends, She was in a foul mood because she had
to stop “hanging” with her comrades and come home to prepare for a job
interview. She lamented that it was ridiculous that she had to change her
clothes and “look nice” for the interview, and that she even had to go to the
interview “on her time” because she already worked at the place and was only
applying for a promotion.
They already knew her, she reasoned,
and asking her to come in and interview for a position “off the clock” was just
going too far.
As you could imagine, I lost my
temper and could no longer stand this “spoiled brat” attitude. I verbally jumped
back at her. I roared at her and exclaimed, “Do you think I wear a shirt,
tie and jacket every day to work because I like to do so? Do you believe
I enjoy coming in early, staying late, working through lunch, running up to the
school for after-hour meetings or on the weekend when someone wants or needs something
because I find it amusing?
I did whatever I had to do. I still
do whatever I have to do to be successful. I am willing to do what others are
not willing to do to find success.
When I was in college, I was willing
to work at McDonald’s when others thought that such employment was beneath them,
but I needed the money to make my dreams come true. When I was a young
teacher I volunteered to stay after school every day to tutor students, I wore
a shirt and tie every day to work when others did not.
I volunteered to work on after-school
committees, helped out at games and coached. I became noticed. You have to give
more than you get, you have to keep your eye on the prize not the price, you
must be willing to do what others are not willing to do and you will be
noticed. You will find success. You can’t expect maximum gain from minimum
efforts!
Success is earned not given or found,
it is earned through mounds of hard work and an almost fanatical sense of tenacity
toward a refusal to give up especially in the face of failure.
You must work as if you already make
a $100,000 a year if you ever hope to have a change to make $100,000 a year.
I often believe that we fail to teach
our students this concept. We need to make sure they understand that in real
life not everybody is looking out for their best interests, that people around
them do not exist to serve their needs as is the case they find in school.
Life is hard. Only through continual hard work will efforts
pay off. There are no guarantees. We must teach our students that if they
want a chance to “get theirs” in life, they must be prepared to go above and
beyond the average efforts of others, that they must be willing to do what
others are not willing to do.
Remember, their future is in our
hands. Making Kennedy the school of choice. Excellence by design.
