Making Your Mark

This evening I took my lovely bride to a college theater production. It's been sometime since we ventured to a theater arts production. We once had season tickets, an outgrowth of my bride's experience in college as a theater major. Kids helped to refocus our finances in other areas, and season tickets were some of the collateral damage. As we took our seats, we looked up to see an old professor of mine with his wife. Now this specific professor is famously known around campus for his effort to know each of his students by name. For 15 weeks each semester he crawls the aisles of his four classes to greet each student by name.

As we conversed prior to the opening curtain, I offered that I used to be one of his students. At this point the professor seemed a bit embarrassed that he didn't remember me. The reality is that I've been out of college for eleven years, following the completion of my master's degree. I also only had one graduate course with this professor, so I didn't really expect him to recall my name.

On the drive home, my wife and I commented on how embarrassed the older professor appeared to be. I added that I didn't really think he'd remember, because I never went out of my way to be memorable. Then I recalled a conversation with one of my old bosses, which he declared that I needed to toot my own horn from time to time. In many ways the evening's encounter highlighted the fact that in certain circumstances I tend to blend into the crowd. This defense mechanism could be construed as a weakness. There are times when being a face in the crowd is acceptable, but at other times there exist a need to be noticed. The difficulty as I see it is determine when to do either.