Earl

On May 3rd, 2006 a retired Lt. Colonel from the US Army died. His name was Earl, and chances are, you may have heard of his son.

Just around 29 years ago or so, Earl was out hitting golf balls at a driving range in California, his 10 month old son in tow, dragging around his own 13 inch club, and playing with it in the dirt, and chewing on the grip end...as 10 month olds are supposed to do.

Earl looked down and asked the tot if he would like to try. The 10 month old grunted a yes, and stood up - left handed - drew the club back and swung.

He missed.

Three more misses later, he tried again. This time the ball arched upwards and landed about 8 yards away. Rather astonished, Earl showed the boy how to place his hands on the club in a proper grip.

The boy managed to somehow get just about every second ball airborne. When they went back home, Earl told friends and his wife of the occurrence, but no one really believed him.

He started taking the boy back to the range on a regular basis. One day, while still only a year old, it dawned on the boy that he was standing on the left side of the ball, while dad was standing on the right. In mid-swing, he stopped, walked around to the other side - adjusted his grip by himself - and nailed the first one he swung at. Earl knew he had something then.

Through the years, Earl invested all of his money and time into his growing son and the son's passion for golf. People from all over criticized Earl with comments like, "You can't push him - he's just a kid", and things of the like.

Isn't it interesting in our society how we can push a little girl to be a ballerina, we can home school and let a boy or girl become geeky social misfits in the name of a spelling bee, but if we even nudge our children when it comes to sports, we're terrible parents and horrible people.

$350.00 a week in dancing lessons? No problem!

Endless hour after endless hour learning the etymology of words like 'pestiferous'...as in...

Pestiferous.

The parents pestiferous insistence that their child eschew throwing around a ball with the kids in the neighborhood in lieu of more vocabulary studies was evident.

Pestiferous

Guess what spelling bee mom's and dads?

30 years later. The son has a personal wealth nearing a billion dollars, was voted the most recognizable athlete in the world, as well as the 3rd most recognizable personality in the world and enjoys a popularity among youth and adults unparalleled in our time or any other.

Earl was right all along.