In my youth Dandy was considered a bad boy
He dressed in rags and came to school
Covered in bruises from fights
Most of his losses were from Dad
A big boy teased as illiterate
Dandy taught himself to read and write
Sitting in the far back alone
It was bad eyesight he couldn't see the blackboard
Often he was napping had not slept the night before
At home dad was often drunk beating up Mom
Especially the girls he liked would tease him
First grade the teacher wanted to set him back
He would not take off his jacket when asked
In his pocket were tennis balls squeezed to get him strong
He was going to take on dad skill tested on mean boys
He wrote his first child story in detention
The windows of his small shack boarded in plywood
Dad was drunk Mom was often battered and bruised
His one goal in life get big enough
To make his dad pay for every time he punched Mom
At sixteen he held a shotgun on dad
Only Dandy did not know about guns
He loaded the gun with rifle bullets
Mom would never take another beating from Dad
After school Dandy went to the field house
He didn't have time for school work
He only went home to protect Mom and Sis
After the shotgun incident the coward never returned
Dandy knew he would never be like his father
But the first time Dandy had courage to ask a girl out
She said, "Dandy you are the last person I would date.
You live in a boarded up house and well be just like your father."
Dandy's goal was to be the first to graduate from high school
Unlike his father the coward the first to serve his country
As soon as he could he joined the Washington National Guard
Diploma in hand he joined the United States Air Force
But the second half of the story was the surprise
Dandy was the first in his family to attend college
Albeit it was not from grades but an athletic scholarship
I am not writing this to blow my own horn
I read a bad series of poem by a young writer wanting to give up
I want these kids to hear from someone who was in their own situation
It doesn't happen all at once I found a girl who loved Dandy for who he was
I am raising a family who well never know a man like my Father
College education not a dream but expected and love assured
There is just one thing you need to know your life is up to you.
All the people who said Dandy well not succeed are gone by now.
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