A legend in your own mind

This post is dedicated to Wayne Coon Sr., my highschool band director. I got most of my values from my mother, but I got a lot from Mr. Coon. During my formative years he provided a stern leadership I really needed, to help me set goals for the future. After my mother passed away when I was 15, I did get a lot of strength from being in band and having him as a mentor. Many other kids my age that weren't interested in band hated him because of his discipline. He was hard on us. But when he gave praise it was because you knew you had done something extraordinary.

Reminds me of the uncle of William Wallace in Braveheart when he explains to the young warrior, "I will teach you to use this..." (tapping his finger against his skull) "before this..."(tapping the sword hanging on his waist)

Mr. Coon was a phenomenal teacher and also fought in the Korean War. He had the ability to take a kid that was lost and straying, to being a disciplined and fantastic musician.

I remember my senior year, he moved me from 2nd chair trombone to bass in the jazz band. I looked at that thing and I said, "You expect me to play that?"

(The whole idea of being a bass bone player was very intimidating. It was huge and I weighed 100 lbs wet back then)

With a stern look, and without batting an eye he said, "Yes I do. And you will. You have the ability, you just don't know it."

I took it home and started toying with it, thinking, "This man is totally crazy," because I knew what challenges it would bring and what he would expect from me.

After a few weeks, I started kind of getting the hang of it, but balancing the rest of the section was really tough. When the word got out what I was doing, more than just a few eyebrows went up.

I spent countless hours learning more scales, etudes, ballads, and more practice combinations than I care to remember. It was like picking up the horn and learning to play it all over again.

But somehow, after a few months, I began to see a development in myself and a newfound confidence I hadn't had with my playing up to that point. The work paid off because when we started going to contest I just did my thing, and many educators came up to Mr. Coon and asked him where he got his bass bone player.

I made the All State jazz band 5A the following summer just before I packed up to go to college.

Basically, the point of my post is that I was forced to draw upon something within myself that I hadn't before, either because I was too scared or just didn't think I could do it. And that is what's wrong with society today. We don't have enough Mr. Coon's anymore to help us overcome our closet skeletons.

He had a lot of profound sayings too full of life lessons. Some of my favorites were:

1) Never say "I heard." (Meaning don't listen to idle gossip and give in to it.)
2) "You are a legend in your own mind." (Referring to people that had such big heads and egos that they couldn't fit through the door. Gee, how many of those have we all run across in our lives?)
3) If someone walks up to you and insults your clothing, appearance or values, simply walk away.


We as a society, because we're so obsessed with American Idol, Hollywood, pop culture, our possessions, and the haves and the have nots, we've forgotten the fundamentals that define our characters and identity as Americans. We've forgotten what freedom is and how hard it is to keep it. We've forgotten what personal responsibility and integrity are.

We are throwing in the towel, giving in to the criticisms, and not walking away to stand up for this world. We say "I heard" more than "no."

We're becoming legends in our own minds, with no respect for those that would guide us to be something better than ourselves. And we're teaching our youth to do the same.

What will our country be like in 20 years? I don't know if I want to hear the answer to that.