Page 23 - letmetellyou

My First Job
kiid be praiised even iiff he or she iis,, perhaps tthe worstt pllayer on tthe tteam.. Maybe,, some kiids woulld be bettter offff nott pllayiing soccer andffiindiingouttiinsttead,,whattiittiisattwhiichttheydoexcell,,iiffnott atthllettiics.. Thank God tthatt beiing creatted equall does nott mean we were nott creatted "diifffferentt" wiitth diifffferentt apttiittudes and diifffferentt ttallentts,, desiigned tto proviide diifffferentt conttriibuttiions tto tthe common good.. Compettiittiion,, ffaiir and open,, iis man’’s natturall way off diiscoveriing tthe bestt ttallentt,, wiitthoutt whiich we shalll ffaiill as a culltture and any otther means ffor sellecttiing among peoplle wiilll iineviittablly llead tto mediiocriitty,, att bestt,, and tto abuses off power,, att ttheiir worstt.. How I ended-up accompanyiing my ollder brotther tto tthe gollff course iis uncllear,, butt I suspectt my mom jjustt wantted tto be riid off me ffor ttheday..
Whatt was tto become my ffiirstt day off work was a hott,, humiid,, sullttry day.. Tolledo iis a ciitty on Lake Eriie and rarelly a Tolledoan tthatt I ever mett diid nott suffffer siinus probllems,, promptted,, iin my unproffessiionall opiiniion,, by tthe humiidiitty creatted by tthe llake.. In any eventt,, iitt was a hott,, humiid,, sullttry day and even tthe gollffers sttayed att home.. Afftter severall hours waiittiing under a shade ttree near tthe pro shop,, my brotther announced tthatt we were goiing home.. Wewerettheonllyttwokiidstthere.. IdeciidedtthattIwanttedtto sttay;; so my brotther llefftt me tthere and I conttiinued tto waiitt allone.. Eventtuallly,, one off tthe younger pros came outt off tthe pro shop and llooked around.. Justt as he was aboutt tto reentter tthe buiilldiing,, he spottted me and asked whatt I was doiing tthere.. I don’’tt recalll whatt exacttlly I saiid,, butt he waved me over,, handed me a lleatther bag off gollff ballls,, and poiintted me ttoward tthe otther siide off tthe buiilldiing ttoward where I llatter llearned llay tthe eiightteentth ffaiirway,, a porttiion off whiich was used as a practtiice area.. In tthose days,, tthere were no driiviing ranges or auttomattiic gollff balll rettriievers att priivatte cllubs.. There were onlly practtiice areas and practtiice ballls and caddiies who were tthere tto "shag" ballls,, whiich,, I was tto llearn,, was ttheiir lleastt desiirablle and mostt dangerous jjob.. Shag boys diidn’’tt waiitt ffor tthe gollffer tto ffiiniish hiitttiing tthe gollff ballls and tthen run outt and piick tthem up.. Thattwoulldhavebeeniineffffiiciientt.. Insttead,,shagboyswenttoutt iintto tthe practtiice area and piicked up each balll as iitt was hiitt by tthe gollffer,, who,, iitt seemed,, was usiing tthem as ttargetts (where were tthe chiilldllaborllaws).. Inanyeventt,,Iquiickllyllearnedttokeepmyhead- upttoavoiidgetttiinghiittbyttheffllyiinggollffballlswhiichbecamemore diiffffiiculltt when more tthan one gollffer was usiing tthe same practtiice area.. Eventtuallly,, I borrowed my ollder brotther’’s baseballl gllove and became ffaiirlly adeptt att cattchiing tthe ffllyiing gollff ballls,, iin tthe webbiing off tthe gllove,, off course.. On tthiis ffiirstt day,, however,, tthatt tthoughtt never crossed my miind..
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