TEACHERS~~HALL OF FAME
A TRIBUTE TO MR. F.M. MAY
BY
RICHARD BROOKS

During my last year of high school I was going through some very difficult times. I can't remember why but  I got into trouble and was sent to the principal's office (Mr. May). I guess he was frustrated with me because he told me that I would be lucky to grow up to be a garbage collector.

Those words stuck with me. After dropping out I joined the Army and got my GED. Then I went to college at night after working all day. Every time that I felt too tired to keep on I would remember those words. I was determined to prove him wrong.

This saw me through my degree in Business Administration. When I left the Army, I was still stinging from those words and went back to college. I got a degree in Data Processing, then Computer Science. I did my post grad in Information Systems. Now I am a computer consultant living in Austin. I didn't stop at education either. I wrote five books, and am a columnist in an international magazine, but I still remember those words spoken a quarter of a century ago. I carried them for all those years, doing my best to prove Mr. May wrong.

I succeeded at proving him wrong--but now I have to wonder if maybe those words weren't spoken in frustration or anger. After having those words spur me on and give me added strength for those decades, I'm beginning to think that Mr. May recognized the rebel in me and that his intent was to cause the exact effect that occurred. I have a feeling that man was laying a challenge at my feet, one that my nature refused to ignore.

Mr. May wasn't being mean to me. He was reaching me the only way that I could be reached. I don't think that he was being angry--He was being brilliant.

I am forever thankful to that man.

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