The Value of Education

He enlisted sometime after the attacks on the World Trade Center. There were many men and women who felt compelled to do their part during the second time in our country's history which will live in infamy. He was a social studies teacher for a high school in Rhode Island. He had endured boot camp as a thirty something, and now was a college educated, low ranking enlisted service member in the navy. His name was Mark, and he was an invaluable member of my reserve unit.

Apart from being a sharp dude who could be counted on to complete any task, no matter how mundane or lofty, Mark always carried himself with respect, honor and charisma. Recently, I read his reviews on Rate My Teacher. Students expressed that he was the best teacher they had. I don't doubt it. One student wrote,

"He was my favorite teacher by far. He's a great person who treated us all with respect. He was incredibly funny, and always able to get students to follow him."

Mark could be counted on for an amusing story. He was the kind of guy who you always wanted to be near because he would tell you something to make you smile and often laugh out loud. He told me once that during weapons training a fellow unit member who was very quiet and reserved was shooting an M16 when he turned to Mark and said,

"These earth weapons are easy."

Mark wrote it down in his wheel book, the small pad military members often carry for important information. Mark was the lacrosse coach for a girl's team at a private school. He often would inspire his team with history laced motivational pep talks. He would say to the young athletes,

"Today when you're on that field, you're not just a college girl playing lacrosse. You're taking your place in line behind all the woman who came before you, who fought for your right to vote, who led the charge to allow woman into college, who protested for equal pay. Are you gonna let all those woman who came before you down? Are you are Valkyries, women warriors who will lead the path forward or are you followers? I think you're warriors!"

The young college athletes would cheer enthusiastically. Mark told me once that as they neared an opposing teams home field, one of the lacrosse players asked,

"Coach, can you do the 'Valkyries' one again?"

After the game, win or lose, Mark always took the team out for ice cream. He would laugh as none of the players ever had any money. They would all get Mark to pay, which he was more than happy to do. He said when they got back to the parking lot, all with their ice cream, the team members would jump into their convertible BMWs and Mercedes, and Mark would wonder if his clunker would start.

I drilled in the reserves with Mark for more than ten years. Of all the stories he told me, one stands out as my favorite. Once he said that in college, he landed a summer job with a moving company. On the first day, he showed up at a house and was supposed to looked for a guy with a clipboard. The dude was directing all the movers hired to schlep people's stuff from one place to another. Clipboard guy was barking orders, sending people to rooms in the house. When he got to Mark, he said,

"Okay, college boy. Come with me."

At that moment Mark figured Schwartz was going to get his. The guy glanced to Mark as he neared then held out his pen followed by the clipboard.

"I don't like to write," the guy exclaimed, "so you write down everything that leaves this house."

After relinquishing the clipboard and pen the guy proceeded to pick up a box and head out the front door. As the years passed I retired from the reserves and lost track of most of the colorful characters I met in uniform, but I never forgot the sage advice Mark learned from his summer moving job. He said,

"The value of an education is that you get paid the same amount of money to write 'couch' than you do to lift one."

So true.

Editor's Note: Originally posted on June 6, 2017.