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If there is someone I am more wary of than a politician, lawyer or journalist, it's a professor. But as I am always careful to analyze my own prejudices (yes I have a few), I realize this may not be a fair assessment because, well, I have an old personal gripe about a certain professor.
When I was just out of college, a century ago, and had just begun my first "real" job in the advertising business, my boss asked me to fill in at a high school "career day" talk for him. He had been invited to speak at a well-known New Jersey Catholic high school, and being Jewish, he said he felt uncomfortable with the situation. Truth be told he wasn't uncomfortable because he was Jewish; he was terrified to speak in front of an audience, any audience. Knowing I was the product of Catholic schooling, he tossed the assignment to me. But I was just a dopey kid myself, damp behind the ears. I hadn't been out of school long enough to have any idea if mine was a good career choice or not, and either way had no idea what to tell these kids. But, alas, we who serve must not ask why, ours is to do or die.
Funny, I don't recall the school. It wasn't St. Benedict's because I had a lot of friends who went there and I would have remembered that. It wasn't Seton Hall Prep, because I attended SH and certainly would have remembered that. What I do remember is being introduced to a room filled with bright-eyed youngsters. Unlike the two aforementioned institutions were at the time, this school was co-ed. The kids listened politely as I prattled on about why it might be a good idea for them to get into the advertising field. I didn't think anything I said was very relevant to them. But it didn't seem to matter. One of their teachers, a priest, popped into the room briefly, and nodded as if blessing my talk. My boss was officially off the hook.
Afterward, there was a reception. All of us speakers were invited for refreshments and more blathering. As it turns out, I was the youngest of the speakers by at least twenty years! Some of the other speakers were professors from various colleges in the area. I suddenly found myself confronted by two of them... I could tell by the English tweed jackets with obligatory leather patches on the elbows. Now you would think that men, presumably possessed of some intellectual stature, upon seeing that I was such a harmless pup, would have welcomed me in their midst and offered some light words of encouragement. Not these two. I was treated like a cheesy interloper from the "real" world. While they probably had touted the appeal of such estimable careers as archeology, psychology or astro-physics, I was going on about creative thinking and advertising. One of the profs took great delight trying to intellectually slice and dice me. I reacted as good-naturedly as I could to his demeaning comments. I suppose I was intimidated by the smell of English Leather.
As the day came to an end, another of the school's teachers, a nun who apparently heard much of the slicing and dicing, approached me. This kindly lady thanked me and then added, in a voice loud enough for my professorial friends to hear, that according to the students I was the most popular speaker of the day. Then looking back over her shoulder at the suddenly silent prof's, sister walked me out to my car.
I have no idea if what she said was true or not. Surely it must have been something of an exaggeration. But it didn't really matter to me then or now. What mattered was that this sweet sister, a humble high school teacher, had more class, more sense, and more character than those pompous professors.
Over the years I gave a good many talks to all kinds of groups for all kinds of reasons, and truth be told, I took to it pretty well. Contrary to the condescending profs, I found the advertising field to be challenging, enjoyable and rewarding. But if I ever found myself wanting for inspiration, I just remembered my kindly nun and how she lifted my spirits. And I remembered the professors and their supercilious attitude. That always generated enough energy and determination for me to meet the day's challenge.
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