Lesson I've been learning

Henry Ford said that anyone who stops learning is old, whether they are twenty or eighty. Lest anyone think I'm getting old, I wanted to tell you a little lesson I'm trying to learn.

This football season has been a pretty rough one for my dad, who is a head coach at a high school in Utah. He and the team have run the gamut of several deaths, expulsions and hearings with the UHSAA. I won't go into all the grisly details, because they still make me a bit angry. But I will say that my dad has had to deal with a student who has been disrespectful, uncooperative and, simply, a pain in the rear. This student and his family have succeeded in dragging my dad's name and the reputation of LP Football through the mud, gathering steam and much community support in their wake. Hearing and reading about the goings on from here in Rexburg, I have been filled with an almost uncontrollable rage and anger that only abates after a good cry or an especially hard workout session.

I am an incredibly competitive person and part of me wanted my dad to lash out, to return pot-shot for pot-shot, to stand up and tell his side of the story and set everyone in the community straight. I wanted to go to Utah and fight this student myself! And then I realized--how silly am I for letting this much anger absorb part of my life? That isn't what the Savior did or would want me to do, either. And that isn't what my dad is doing. He is holding up his head, coaching the kids who will listen, those with respect, with class and quality as he always has.

This is the lesson that I'm learning, yet again. That my dad is the epitome of class and strength and real manhood. He has had a quote on the wall of his office for years that perfectly explains how he is as a person, and how he runs his life:

Class never runs scared. It is sure-footed and confident. It can handle whatever comes along.

Class has a sense of humor. It knows that a good laugh is the best lubricant for oiling the machinery of human relations.

Class never makes excuses. It takes it's lumps and learns from the past. Class knows that good manners are nothing more than a series of petty sacrifices.

Class bespeaks an aristocracy that has nothing to do with money. Some extremely wealthy people have no class at all, while others who are struggling to make ends meet are loaded with it.

The person with class makes everyone feel comfortable because he is comfortable with himself.

Class is real. You can't fake it.

If you have class, you've got it made. If you don't have class, no matter what else you do have, it doesn't make any difference.

Now, this entry wasn't supposed to let you know that my dad is the greatest thing since sliced bread (although he just might be), nor was it intended to let you know that I have a bad temper and am still trying to learn to control it (although that's true too). It was to tell you that even though you are married and out of the house, or you think you're too cool to listen to your parents, or whatever, you can still learn lessons that are incredibly valuable from your folks. I hope I will never have to deal with a situation like the one my dad is still facing. But he, and you, and I, can rest assured in the knowledge that if I do, I will be able to react with class, because that's how I've been raised. My grandpa has it, my dad has it, and I'm striving to develop it. I guess you could say it runs in the family.