I have always held my Father in high respect. I always wanted to please him. But, when I was in 10th grade I lost interest in school. Grades had always been pretty easy and I thought I could just skate by. Besides, everybody knew, baseball and basketball was what was really important. Then I got a 9-wks. report card and reality hit. I looked in disbelief at a ’D-’ in Geometry and a ’D’ in History. Well, I couldn’t show that to my parents, so I did the only logical thing. I took a pen and by making a mark in the middle of the ’D’s,’ I magically raised my grades to a ’B-’ and a ’B.’ I remember my Dad looking at that card and asking, "Tim, did you alter these grades?" "Oh, no, Dad. The cards came out with ’D’s’ and I knew I couldn’t be doing that bad, and sure enough they were mistakes and instead of making a new card, they just fixed them on the spot." Dad pressed me, but I wouldn’t confess. Not only was I dishonest, I was stupid, too. But the thing I’ll never forget is being called into my Dad’s office a week or so later. I sat in the chair across from my Dad at his desk and said, "What’s up?" My Dad never said a word, he just reached in his top drawer and tossed a new report card over to me. He had not believed me (Duh!) and had requested a duplicate card from the school. I looked at that card and waited for his anger but he didn’t say anything. But when I looked up I wished He had been
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