A Look Back…

Looking Back…

Looking Back…

Before I begin, I confess that I agree with CS Lewis when he says that nothing new is said.  Only that the same Truths are expressed in different ways.  So what I write here is what I have learned and heard from others…

Hind sight is perfect…If I had known then what I know now…  Oh, so that’s how it is going to turn out… Live and Learn… Oh, now I see… These are some of the things people say about looking back over their life.  They say these things if they have learned from experience!

When I was younger I listened to sage advise only when it suited me.  Only when the supposed outcome I wanted fit the advice I was given. As a result like most of us, I learned mostly by trial and error.  I ran off the road into the ditch often.  We all seem to have to learn our ‘own’ lessons.  Today, I watch young folks do the same as I did.  While watching them a lesson I have learned recently is: unless I am asked, ‘offering my advice or opinion seldom is heeded.’  I too was (am still am) stubborn and hard headed.  ‘A bulldog,’ I have been called.  I still live on the edge according to those close to me.  “No risk,no reward,” I say. As a result one lesson that I am continuing to learn: ‘Balance.’  Or what used to be called ‘moderation.’  To this day I struggle for balance.  I am getting better…

Recently we visited Amy and her family in Atlanta.  One of the reasons for the trip was the celebration of my ‘Emory’s College of Arts and Sciences 50th Reunion.’  Emory’s demographics have changed since I was there. Emory in the sixties was an elite regional university which had only become coed in 1958.  Students were drawn mostly from the South (although I had fraternity brothers from Finland).  This years class had students from all 50 states and over twenty foreign countries.  Our class of 1965 we decided was about 600 graduates.  The class of 2015 was double that.  This years applications for entrance to the college were over 21,000.

The campus was recognizable but huge by comparison to the sixties.  It sprawls over hundreds of acres.  Emory has tried hard to keep the ‘woodsy’ feel.  The Georgia pink marble that the main quadrangle’s buildings were constructed with slowly was less and less incorporated in to the architecture of new buildings.  I was told that the North Georgia marble is no longer available.  It is still a breathtakingly beautiful campus.  The Quad has all of its original charm.  Changed but good change, I suppose…

Not just during ‘Dooley’s Frolics’ but through out the year Emory brought wonderful diverse talent to the campus ranging from: Andre Segovia, Julian Bream, Josh White, Bob Dylan, Ian & Sylvia, Ray Charles and on and on.  Ronnie Milsap was an Emory student when I was the Sig Social Chairman.  He lived in McTyre Hall a block from the Sigma Chi House.  He was a friend back then before he became famous.  Back then it was obvious that he was Blessed with talent and often hung at the Sig House around our piano.  We Sigs loved to sing…

ENJOY a LOOK BACK:

 

 

In Contrast This Years Commencement:

Class of 1965: 50-year Reunion and Corpus Cordis Aureum