Education is important to me. However, while that is true in my adult life, it was not true in junior or senior high school. My father was promoted in the company he worked for in Philadelphia. The problem was that he had to move to Pittsburgh. So, the family had to move from a nice, middle-class community and elementary school in Pennsauken, NJ, to Mt. Lebanon, PA. I was an above-average student at Pennsauken.

Nevertheless, Mt. Lebanon. was a golden ghetto both financially and educationally. Attending junior and senior high school, I felt both dumb and poor. I also disliked English classes. We had to memorize 100 lines of poetry or prose each semester in high school. I remember reciting a part of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, Paul Revere’s Ride. As I continued my journey down my yellow brick road after high school, I realized I wasn’t dumb or poor.

One of Longfellow's poems, which I didn’t memorize, was A Psalm of Life. I didn’t even know that he wrote it. Longfellow poetically discusses great people who reach out to others by helping them.

Longfellow asserts that we are making footprints in the sand during our lives. To be a great person, you must reach out to others and assist them on their journey through life.

Footprints in the sand

Longfellow fails to delineate that we all leave footprints in the sand; some of the people leaving footprints in the sand aren’t great people. For example, Trump creates despicable footprints in the sand. Trump, the felon, said of soldiers, “A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’”

This is despicable, but he lied about not saying it. John Kelly, who was Trump’s Chief of Staff, said that Trump said that to him directly. So, Trump is leaving his footprints in the sand. A couple of weeks ago, Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts in his hush money trial. Trump claims that his hush-money case was a “rigged, disgraceful trial.”

While Trump states that he is an innocent man, Judge Merchan will sentence Trump, the criminal, on July 11. It will be interesting to see whether Trump will go to jail. Regardless, the Republican National Convention is on July 15.

Before Merchan sentences Trump and the Republican convention, Trump, the convicted felon, has a debate with President Biden on June 27 on CNN.

On our life’s journey, we have a choice about the footprints in the sand we create. It seems like an easy choice. You can reach out to others by leaving your footprints in the sand to assist them as they journey. Or you could follow Trump, the felon, who is interested in only helping himself. Had Trump read Longfellow’s poem, A Psalm of Life, he would have understood the reality of creating footprints in the sand. When Trump dies, he will be remembered for his stupid footprints in the sand. What a legacy.