Once during my college teaching career, the dean told me to complete a course that lost its instructor. When I complained that the semester was almost over, that I had no idea what had been covered, and furthermore that I had never taught that course before, the former Marine drill sergeant pointed to the door and dismissed me with the same words he no doubt growled to countless terrified recruits: “Like it or not, you will do whatever must be done.”
I had no idea how to prepare for the course. Then I thought about my boyhood years on Dad’s Mississippi Delta farm and about my best friend and mentor Jaybird, the toughest, wisest man I have ever known. His answer to the daunting challenge I faced and reluctance to undertake it would have been, “If you are looking for an easy day, boy, look to yesterday.” So, I did what I often did as a boy: I talked to Jaybird, my guardian angel, knowing he would provide the guidance I so desperately needed.
