I vividly remember the day I had three female students and their parents sitting in my office at 7:00 a.m. one morning. As a high school principal, I would not normally have the parents of three students in my office at the same time, but this meeting was about poor life choices.
Change your choices and you will change your life.
Love Triangle
This early morning meeting occurred mid-way through the second semester after dealing with two of the girls fighting all year long with one another. Profane statements had been written on the bathroom walls. There had been name calling and general disruption to the educational environment. Of course, it was all over a boy…it usually is over a boy. It was a love triangle, and the assistant principal and I had worked all year to get this situation under control. Both students had been counseled and disciplined on several occasions. My staff spent many hours on this conflict.
The third student sitting in my office was a friend of the other two. She had introduced them to this boy…on social media. This boy was not a student at my school. In fact, he lived 2,000 miles away, in the state of Florida, about as far as you can get from Michigan. Indeed, the girls had never met him in person, but both were “in love.” I must admit, from his social media photo, he did appear to be attractive, with a compelling story, perhaps too good to be true.
A Big Surprise
The meeting began with the mother of the third student complaining. She did not understand why she and her daughter had been called into the office. She knew all about the conflict, stating, “It is very silly and has gotten way out of hand.” I interrupted her and began sharing the facts that I had uncovered while investigating this on-going conflict. Then, I got to the bottom line. I had discovered that the love interest of the fighting girls was not a real person. The third girl and a boy she knew had created him. This boy was afraid that his girlfriend, someone unconnected to the two love-struck students in my office, was cheating on him. The fake boy from Florida was just a test for her.
You should have seen the attitude of the third girl’s mother abruptly change. In an instant, she went from indignant to outrage. She stood up and began talking and pointing at her daughter. “You just wait until I get you home.” She looked at me. I nodded, indicating that the meeting was over. She grabbed her daughter and left. I was left to console the two heartbroken students. The important lesson was that things are not always as they appear.
Change Your Choices, Change Your Life
After more than three decades as a school administrator, business manager, and church lay leader, I have learned some valuable lessons about making decisions. These are lessons that I have learned, sometimes the hard way, over many years. None more important than this; change your choices and you will change your life.
“Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold.”
Proverbs 3:13-14
Copyright © 2023 Chuck Locklear
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