Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Military Colleges

I attended a state supported military college. It was a good experience if not always a pleasant one. On the dark side, giving power to young men and women over each other is enough to make you cringe. The bright side to the cloud is that you get exposed real fast to what leadership is not supposed to be. You see and experience some really awful examples that get your attention and you say, "Hmm, don't think I'll ever try that one." Then again you learn what Leadership is; two things actually; knowing best and getting others to do it . (They go together...Many find that confusing.)

Another aspect one might consider dark is having discipline imposed and maintained under the harshest of sanctions. Having to make your bed to standard, hang your clothes in a prescribed order and even arranging your belongings in a chest of drawers according to a diagram, is something most college aged students would look at and say...."Not for me!" Then having to get up at six-o'clock, stand by for inspection, stand in line in a chow hall and walk around in circles on the weekend for the most minor of infractions, can get to be old in a big hurry. The bright side to the cloud comes years later when you wake up one morning with a brain cramp and realize...discipline is not really such a bad thing...Sure, I had it imposed on me, but in the process I learned what it was....and maybe I can use some of it (called self-discipline) in the ordering of my life.

At the height of their civilization, when their creative powers burned hottest, the Greeks had a spiritual renaissance known as the Mysteries. Not much is known about the process or the initiation that awakened this spiritual awareness, however on the Oracle at Delphi were the words, "Know Yourself" and "Nothing in Excess."

Living up to those two ideas doesn't just happen. It requires self discipline. Drugs, cigarettes, alcohol, diet, physical fitness, and financial responsibility are all shaped by self discipline. So when the time comes you might consider sending you son or daughter to a military college. They'll hate you for awhile, but in addition to a sick sense of retribution, it will do them a world of good over the course of a lifetime.