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The Lesson in a Life Well Lived
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. Mahatma Gandhi
In 1962, my father was high school principal at St. Mary’s boys school in Manhasset, NY. It is an interesting job choice, high school principal. He wasn’t really your typical administrator and he didn’t love rules. He hated meetings. I wouldn’t call him a strong disciplinarian. He was more of a free spirit with a great sense of humor. But at the time, he was a Marist Brother which was like being in the military. You go where they send you.
His stories from his tenure with St. Mary’s were pure entertainment. My father thought any act of rebellion executed with intelligence was time well spent. The only thing he had no time for was stupidity. And just imagine the pranks that went on at an all-boys high school. He had the best stories because he thought the gags the boys pulled were hysterical.
On one occasion, 4 boys decided they needed an afternoon off. So each boy went to a bathroom on each of the four floors of the high school armed with a cherry bomb. The bathrooms were right above one another, so with perfect timing the boys each lit their firework and then dropped it in the toilet. The sound was so incredibly loud that everyone thought the building was exploding and fled for their lives…
