When I played football at Virginia Tech, everybody on the team had a nickname. “Doc” was pre-med, and the smartest guy on the team. “Big” Jake was 6’7″ tall. I was “Boatie,” because my name made people think of a “row boat.” They didn’t all make a lot of sense, but it was a way to identify ourselves as part of the group.
One of my friends on the team was nicknamed “Mugsy” for the gangster way in which he tackled. People on the team used to say that when he hit you straight on, you heard train whistles. Mugsy was tall, lean, and military handsome – the big, square-jawed look. Not only did he have the looks and the athletic ability, but he was also very intelligent. Hardly seems fair, doesn’t it? He graduated from the Tech School of Business Management. Oh, and I forgot to mention that he came from good stock – his father was an admiral in the Navy.
It seemed like the world would be his for the taking after Mugsy graduated. He had the whole package and made all the right decisions. All he had to do was pick a field to dominate. Business executive, jet pilot, high-ranking military officer – all were possibilities for a man with his talents and background.
But that’s not quite how it played out. Like a lot of people who seem to have endless choices in front of them, Mugsy struggled to choose a path to follow. He wandered around for a while, doing this and that, never really getting anywhere and partying like he was still in college. Finally something happened to force him to reevaluate his life: he had to bury his 25-year-old best friend and former teammate, who was killed in a drunk driving accident.
Initially, Mugsy didn’t change his lifestyle at all. But one night not too long after the funeral, he found himself in the bathroom after a particularly hard night of partying. A funny thing happened when he looked at himself in the bathroom mirror: he didn’t recognize the man staring back at him. He rinsed his face with cold water and looked again. Finally it started to register that the person staring back at him was indeed the man he had become.
He spent the morning deep in thought, upset at how he had let himself fall so far from where he thought he would be at this point in his life. He made up his mind that he was going to change, and it was going to start that day. After cleaning up, he walked into a local Marine recruiting office and enlisted in the Marines.
He went on to become the Platoon honor man at his OCS graduation in Quantico, signifying that he was the top officer candidate in his platoon of 45-50 officer candidates. He became a pilot, and after leaving the service he went on to become a captain at TWA. He currently owns his own successful business.
All the promise in the world can’t guarantee success. But a false start doesn’t necessarily guarantee failure, either. It is never too late to turn things around. Take a hard look in your own mirror today. Are you where you want to be? If not, the time to start changing is now.
Have a great weekend,
Ro