A Special Tribute To A Once-Young Gentleman Named Patrick Kline!Mar 10 '05 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line One of the "Mr. Right"s of my childhood once said some words that continue to inspire me! INTRODUCTION: Sometime in the waning hours of March 9, it became official: I went from dial-up to cable-modem!!! Woo-Hoooooooooooooo!!! Part of this experience included getting yet another website, and anyone interested can visit this work-in-progress by going here: http://ainsley_jo_phillips.home.insightbb.com The name of it is: Just Another Website By Ainsley Jo Phillips Anyway, I'm about to create a link section that will be named in honor of someone I knew many years ago who was wise-beyond-his-years--especially, when it came to a challenge he made in a speech when he was a mere 14 years old. In another place, I've written a longer and more detailed version of this story, but this took place at a subscription-only site, and I wanted there to be a version that readers could click on right away to learn about this special guy without having to subscribe. Anyway, I hope you find the words of this special person to be inspiring... When I was in fourth grade, a sweet, smart, and handsome boy moved into our school district, and he and I spent the rest of our school years together--though not as TOTALLY together as there had been times off an on that I wanted us to. His name was Patrick Kline. Now, remember that name: Patrick Kline...Patrick Kline...Patrick Kline...Patrick Kline... Got it!?! Good! Okay! I'm going to tell you something very special about this guy. For one thing, by the time I finished fourth grade, I had a major crush on him, so, all summer long, I was all starry-eyed over him. I wouldn't see him until school began, but my folks and I made a trip to the east part of Canada and the northeast part of the USA. When we got to Niagara Falls, I went on and on about how I was going to get married to Patrick when we turned 25 and return here for our honeymoon. During that summer, my head would be turned by a couple of other guys: very special guys who also still hold an important place in my heart, even though I never saw them again after that--and didn't even know the name of one of them. However... When school started again, I was still ga-ga over Patrick Kline--but he was able to change my mind by showing me another side to himself besides the perfect gentleman whom I had become so enamored with. Want to know what he did? He pressed on one of his grapefruit segments at lunch with his fork and squirted me in the face--ON PURPOSE!!! When he did that, I told him that we were through--which I'm sure didn't make him shed any tears, because this was, likely, his purpose all along!!! Anyway, I didn't stay mad at Patrick. In fact, there were a couple more times during grade school when I showed at least a little interest in him--one being at a soc-hop when I talked him into dancing with me and the other being when I found out he had been invited to go on a hayride our church was having (only problem was that he seemed to have been invited by another girl, so I was out-of-luck)! Anyway, Patrick has been a family man for years, and I've been an old maid, of course. So, never the twain will meet. That was just a grade school crush anyway--but, having said that, I still have to say, in all seriousness, that I have a lot of love and admiration for Patrick, and must give him credit for something he said that has stuck with me for almost 40 years. When we graduated from Fall Creek Heights Elementary as the Class Of 1967 (eighth grade, that is), he was our Valedictorian, and he gave a beautiful speech that ended by saying that we should make it our goal to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem. In the years that have followed, I've said as much in various things I've written as well as when I've taken part in discussions, talked before groups, etc. When I do, I often give Patrick credit where credit is due--but, no doubt, there's the possibility that he might have been inspired by someone else who said something like this, so it wouldn't really be an original thought of his. However, this expressed his feelings that graduation night when he was talking about what we ought to be doing with our futures--and it expresses how I feel, too. But, no matter whether this was something he came up with on his own (with God's guidance, of course!) or whether he heard it somewhere else and internalized it, he has to be given the credit for putting this idea into my head! So, Patrick, if you're reading this, I just wanted to let you know that the speech you made when we were both children (though feeling so grown-up that night) still inspires me in my over-fifty phase of life!!!  |
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