Making the Grade

Since leaving school I am not often
graded, but I very often grade myself
and I can be a rigid rigorous appraiser
of my performances, a joyful sadistic
scrutinizer with a wide red pen
feeling productive only from finding
fault, as if life were True/False,
as if every problem was corrected
by one answer only. With me there
is no partial credit, and what would
extra credit mean if I fail at the core
curriculum of me? Every moment is
an interim report:

Fathering Skills...........................F
Good Husband............................D-
Provider.......F-
(Is there a something lower than F?)

I know LIFE is more of a subjective
essay than an objective test. While
my life seems to be multiple choice
I rarely feel the right answer is
included in the list. My life has no
resemblance to a math problem
with set steps, a single formula, and
never more than a couple of ways
to find an answer. Why can't I
grade me using an S for Satisfactory
a U for Unsatisfactory, or, more
importantly, and E for effort?
Better yet, why not use smiley faces
and frowny faces, or perhaps I could
become one of those namby-pamby
teachers filled with compassion who
always grades on the curve.

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Originally published on SearchWarp.com for Tex Norman Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Article Source: Making the Grade (a poem)