The big "if"

“I will write a great column... IF I really want to impress my editor.”

Statements like that have led to the downfall of American culture. It’s just not acceptable.

This two-letter word has molded our culture single-handedly by enabling many groups of hardworking folk to think in terms of mere hypothetical situations.

That’s IF you actually sit back and think about it.

Imagine the difference it would have made for Rosa Parks: “Well, if they call the police, I will have to go ahead and give up my seat.”

How about Bill Belichick, head coach of the New England Patriots football team? “If we had those guys, and they played like a team, then we would be unstoppable.”

Those folks didn’t say “if ” because in their books they knew it would happen.

Instead, they said when the things come like the police, or the chance to become a great team, they would take it.

They would get folks on their side.

After living for a mere 22 years, I think I have a good recipe for living life.

Buy in.

If you are going to be a student, be the best student possible. Go to class EVERY DAY (as you probably should anyway), finish your homework ahead of schedule and research the subject matter thoroughly.

Be all-in.

When you get to the end of the semester you won’t want to be the guy (or gal) that says you could have done better if you had only tried harder.

We all know that we as true scholars at the University of Mississippi will not need an extra point or two at the end of semester, but if you do find yourself on that borderline, you won’t want to think “what if ” when it’s too late to try.

Accept challenges.

Sometimes life (much like college) throws you a jab that you weren’t quite expecting. Keep in the fight because that will prepare you for “real adult life.” I can’t say that I have a whole caboodle of experience, but one thing that I know is that shrinking from challenges leads to a lifetime of the same.

I don’t know about you, but there is no way that I’d like to see myself at 35 and still afraid of rejection all because of being scared that “no” would come in our house and take our favorite Oreos.

In the end, there is a valuable lesson to be learned from any situation you may endure:
1. Like my old varsity football coach used to say, “It ain’t braggin’ if you can do it.”

2. Like my high school basketball coach used to say, “If you don’t have it now, after practicing for a while, it’ll either stick or you will quit.”

So, in instances when the going gets tough, what will you do?

For me and most Americans, it all starts out by not saying “if,” and instead saying when.

So when I start to write the best column ever, and when it happens, I’ll just look around and say, “Hey, the big man upstairs is the ghost writer; I’m just the messenger.”