This morning in chapel, the pastor used 5 words beginning with "in." Integrity, initiative, incentive, insensitive, inappreciative, As he spoke, I kept thinking of the words "intrinsic" and "extrinsic." Our boys are there because they've neither been taught nor seen by example things like integrity or initiative.
If we are unable to establish the need for or the absence of those i words, our boys will continue to struggle through life. It brought back the line from a very old movie I've seen more than once. I can only remember the scene and the line spoken, but it's been a blessing for decades.
It was the story of an Air Force base, with Rock Hudson as the base commander and Robert Lansing was a sergeant on that base. They were playing handball and after the game, Hudson's character asked Lansing's character to explain the change in him. Lansing's character replied, "People finally quit lighting a fire under my tail and lit one in my heart." That's intrinsic to me. A fire in the heart to do the right thing instead of someone constantly hounding me and correcting me. We work hard to establish intrinsic motivations in our boys. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
Over the 11 years I've been here, I've seen some wonderful changes in some of the boys. In others, it's been disappointing to see them leave before they're ready-usually to go back to public school because they want to play sports, have a girlfriend, drive a car, or all three. Unfortunately, they came from public schools because they didn't do well there. Public schools aren't any different that when they left. If the boy's not ready to face that, he'll not do well. The principal once said we're the last stop for them and for the most part, it's true. Leaving here before they're ready is bound to cause problems.
But, when we do see a change in a boy it's indescribably beautiful. It's a wonder I cannot begin to describe, only say I'm grateful to be a part of it.
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