Article From April 2009

Please enjoy the video featuring Hines Ward, titled The Journey Home. This was aired on ESPN after Ward became MVP of Super Bowl XL. If you haven't had the opportunity to watch it please take some of your time and know you weren't the only one. Keep it Hapa people!

Best, Frank

What The World Needs Is A Little Bit Of Joe Clark In Their Lives
by Frank Agostinelli

I don’t really know when it happened or how it happened. And it really does not matter. Principles, hard work, discipline, morals, picking up one by their boot straps, consideration for others, respect etc., left our society a while ago. It’s shameful when the President of the United States compares his bowling prowess and the Special Olympics. Regardless if it was tongue in cheek, adults are supposed to represent the right way of doing things, the right way of presenting one’s self thus setting an example for the younger generations as role models. Unfortunately, some adults are regressing when it comes to maturation. It’s sad but true, I used to joke how I was a part minority. I still am but for other reasons that have zero to do with my ancestral roots. I have a few people in mind who could straighten out the world we live in. Coach Bobby Knight. Bill Parcells. Genghis Khan. Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. But I didn’t pick them. Enter Joe Clark.

Most of us saw the 1989 movie titled “Lean on Me” which starred Morgan Freeman as Principal Joe Clark. He turned a Paterson New Jersey high school, Eastside High, into a model for all high schools to follow. Crazy Joe was a former Army drill instructor with a bachelor’s in elementary education from William Paterson College and a master’s in Education from Seton Hall. His tough love worked to rid Eastside of derelicts, ensure an atmosphere conducive for learning and brought out the best in his student body. He had no time for blaming this one or that one for their problems or situations. He had no time for excuses. What he had time for was to be a motivating factor in the respective student’s achievements. But he knew and said it as much, the individual is the one who has to do it. Here are a couple of quotes from the movie:

“My motto is simple: If you do not succeed in life, I don't want you to blame your parents. I don't want you to blame the White Man. I want you to blame yourselves. The responsibility is yours!”

“I want to tell you what the people are saying about you and what they think about your chances. They say you're inferior! You are just a bunch of niggers and spics and poor white trash! Education is wasted on you! You cannot learn! You're lost! I mean ALL of you! I want all the white students to stand up. All my white students, stand up. Stand up. C'mon, stand up. These are my white children and they're the same as all of you! They've got no place to go, if they had, they'd have abandoned us a long time ago like everybody else did. So, here they are in East Side High, just like the rest of us. You can sit down. Are you getting my point, people? Is it beginning to sink in? We sink, we swim, we rise, we fall, we meet our fate together!”

Even though this was addressed in the movie to his student body, what he says resonates and is most applicable today to everyone.

While there are some crybabies (and this is exactly what they are) who would deem this method archaic, it has its merits. I wouldn’t agree with everything but I do agree with most. Too many of the problems we have in the United States shouldn’t be given a Hello Kitty band aid but this is what has been progressively taking place for decades. There is and has been too much coddling and telling someone, whether a child, an adolescent, a teenager, a young adult or an adult, everything will be okay. If you screw up, it’s not your fault. It is someone else’s burden to bear. They should say, “hey lazy ass, get your crap together and stop whining!” This would be backed up with elaboration. There will be some cases where the ‘everything will be okay’ is most appropriate, but not all. Unfortunately our society through the efforts of education, media outlets, lies, and embellishment of the truth has taught everyone that “it’s not your fault,” thus creating a society of victims. As for those victims, the ones who have been told it’s okay not to take responsibility for their actions, they have played this card to extremes. One of their commandments is for them to walk around angry, crap on everyone around them and stick their hands out for freebies. Joe Clark would have never put up with such nonsense and neither should you.

Also in this equation are those who just quit. To quote sport talk radio extraordinaire Jim Rome, “When the going gets tough, quit. When life gives you lemons, quit.” Pundits can blame everything under the sun and under the kitchen sink, bottom line is you are the only one who can achieve. No one else can do this for you. You are the one who makes the final decision. No one else can do this for you. If you have real friends, they will want you to succeed and give you a kick in the ass when you need it. A true friend will give you tough love when you need it. But sometimes, you just have to do it on your own. Take for example economist Thomas Sowell. Before you political wanna-be experts try to jump down my throat (because I know you’re too lazy to research anything), I’m not writing about his political affiliations. I am briefly touching on his achievements when the world tried to flush the toilet on him.

Let’s see, his father passed away when he was born. He was a high school drop out. He worked odd jobs. He was a Marine during the Korean War. After his military tenure, got his GED. He attended Howard transferred to Harvard. Magna Cum Laude with a BA in Economics. Got his master’s in economics from Colombia. Got his doctorate in economics at the University of Chicago. He taught economics at Howard, Cornell, Brandies and UCLA. He’s a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford. Wow. Why didn’t he just quit? Why didn’t he blame someone for his father dying? Why didn’t blame someone for his situation at home? Why did he even bother get his GED after he dropped out of high school? Why did he even bother enrolling in college? If this happened to Sowell in this day and age, he would have a boo hoo hoo session on a cable access channel. There would be special interest groups crying, whining, bitching, moaning how poor little Thomas is being held back. But during a time, when race tensions were high, no one held Thomas Sowell back.

In lexicon suitable for all ages, how could you not get with him? This is not a Thomas Sowell love fest. It is an example of what one can do when they don’t stand there with a sign saying, “I’m auctioning off my virginity to pay for graduate school.”

Joe Clark was a leader for Eastside High. He still is a leader. His leadership gave his students an opportunity to do their best. Something that was not afforded to them before Joe Clark arrived. He was the “friend” who gave them a kick in the ass when they needed it. He was the “friend” who gave them encouragement when they needed it. He was the “friend” who gave them an ear when they needed it. He exemplifies what our world is missing and what our world needs. A true leader. There is a lack of true leadership but plenty of paper leaders. Are you a paper leader?