"The greater the truth, the greater the libel." (Lord Ellenborough)

.....It was back in 1970 something while I was Chairman of the English Dep't. at North Shore H.S. that I hired a young man whose record in college was excellent. He had classes in the kind of courses I felt were sine qua non for any teacher in my department--that is, light on the "education" classes and heavy on the content classes for anyone who expected to teach English. It wasn't long, however, before he began to cause me problems when he would become angry and contentious whenever I entered his classroom to observe and evaluate his teaching. I tried to explain to him that it was part of my job description to do just that and not to be threatened by me. But it wasn't good enough for him. He claimed I was jealous of him because he was "a better writer and poet", than I was and that he was a better teacher. I could not have cared less about what he thought and because he apparently did not care about learning to teach, I did not renew his contract. I felt it was better for him to rant and rave somewhere else.

.....But this was not the first time that someone misread me during my career. I never did like to be an administrator, even though I had a Principal's Certificate, and I could have advanced myself, at least financially if I chose to. Eventually, I resigned my chairmanship so that I could continue to teach and to coach soccer and track and field; the Board of Education had decided that I could not chair the department and coach at the same time. They were wrong. From that point on, whenever sparks fell between teachers in the department and the Board concerning curriculum and other matters, I was coronated as the troublemaker, mainly because I was still thought to be the "guru" of the English Dep't. with the power secretly to advise the teachers what to do. Well, they were wrong. I had nothing to do with any of those problems. I was too busy teaching and coaching and raising my family. But, I was never comfortable in being thought of in a negative way when the truth was not as others perceived it to be.

.....I am writing about misconceived human perceptions primarily because I read an article in today's newspaper about the actor, Christian Bale who had played in "Batman" as well as "The Dark Knight" films and who is continuing the saga of John Connor, the human Resistance leader in a post-apocalyptic world, in the fourth installment of "The Terminator" -- released this week. Bale feels that people might be wary of him because he has made headlines more for his off-screen actions than onscreen talents lately. There was an incident last summer with his mother and sister in London, when he was arrested and questioned by police; then an expletive-laden rant from the set of his latest film that leaked online--and spread like wildfire. Right now, Bale says, "people seem to have this perception of me which couldn't be more wrong." And back when I was well along in my own career, and being successful at it, and even now in my retirement, I know that there are those who carry a perception of me which "couldn't be more wrong." Bale goes on to say, "It's not bad to have people misunderstand you completely." I'm not so sure about that.

.....I've always been unabashedly passionate about anything and everything I've attempted to do, be it at combat in a war, or striving for academic achievements, or keeping the memory of my lost comrades alive--at least in my own mind, or running marathons, or seeking excellence as a teacher, or performing in the theatre here in Huntington Lakes--or even in writing blogs. And I do respect, always, each and every person's job. If they are my friends, I'm always there for them. Ah, well, if you, yourself, know the real truth, along with true friends, perhaps it's not so bad to have some people misunderstand you completely, after all. You just go on and try to be the person you've strived to be all your life.