October 17, 2025 • 17 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, when Bob McLalan’s son told him he wanted to become a Green Beret, the words carried a weight that lingered. There was courage in the choice, but also risk. Every parent hopes their child finds purpose, yet few are ready for the moment that purpose calls them away. In this story, Bob shares how his son’s decision shaped their family’s understanding of duty, love, and the quiet bravery it takes to let someone follow a dream that could cost everything.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
This is Lee Habib, and this is our American Stories.
And we talk about everything here on this show, from
the arts to sports, from history to business and everything
in between. And we love hearing your stories. Send them
and we'll take a few of them, take many of
them if possible, and turn them into stories right here
on the show, and put them up on the satellite
so you can hear them too. What we're doing here
(00:34):
is special. I think you know it. Share it with
friends and anywhere you can talk up what we're doing.
We appreciate it, and so too does your station. And
now it's time for the McLellan Files, where we go
deep inside the life of Bob McClellan, someone that you
don't know, but whose life and whose voice you're certain
(00:56):
to be captivated by.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
While watching a movie with my wife in the family
room one evening, we were interrupted by our sixteen year
old son, Tommy, who walked in and sat down with us. Politely,
He said he had something important he wanted to discuss
with us. As I turned off the TV, I quickly
imagined all the possibilities of something terrible, disastrous, or difficult
(01:21):
that could force a sixteen year old boy to sit
down to talk with his parents about anything important. My wife,
with her eyes wide open, sat silently while we all
got settled in to hear what he had to say.
I could not remember his approaching us like this before,
and my expectations, coupled with my imagination, made me feel
very uncomfortable. He began to tell us about a friend
(01:44):
whose cousin attended the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell,
New Mexico, for high school. That cousin is now captained
in the Green Berets, and his teaching math at West Point.
Tommy was very impressed by that and said he wanted
to go there for their two years of high school.
He talked about the academic standing of the school, the
(02:05):
numerous activities that were available, and the challenges he felt
the school would present him. As he spoke, I was
still unprepared for the ending of his story. Calmly and
ever so smoothly, he discussed his desire to attend such
a school and pursue a college education that no doubt
had a military career.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
As its ultimate destination.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
His mother countered with a gentle return to reason when
she said, you're going to a fine private high school
here in the Bay Area. Why would you want to
leave all of your friends? More straightforward questions came from me,
like are you unhappy? Oh, do you want drugs? He
said he was prepared to leave his friends as he
would make new ones at the school, and though it
(02:49):
was a military school, he was not enlisting and would
still be a high school student. He returned to talking
about the courses and activities offered by the school and
its academic reputation. He thought the disciplined and focus would
help him be more successful. It was obvious he had
done his homework, and it was evidence of how seriously
he took this idea of leaving home, traveling and living
(03:12):
at the school and taking on a rigorous academic and
physical regiment at sixteen years of age. Young though he
may be, he had reached a fork on the road
in his life that his mother and myself didn't see.
We asked why would he want to be going to
a military institute that sat out in the middle of
the New Mexican Desert.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
It was their reputation, he said.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
In their one year prep program, ninety seven percent go
on to one of the military academies. Out of a
total of nine hundred students ninety went on to the
military academies. He thought that by doing well at NMI,
he could pick any college he wanted to attend, and,
after graduation from college, become an officer. I began to
(04:02):
suspect that he was poored living under the shady trees
amidst a wealthy suburb south of San Francisco. A bedroom
community offers a little excitement punching a time clock, working
at a retail store, or hanging around with your friends,
playing with your foe, or living at home. There's a
lotless adventurous and exciting than traveling around the different places,
(04:22):
living within a community where thirty percent of the student
body is international one hundred percent or former military.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
And meeting the many challenges that the military presents.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
We reminded him that home and community are important for
his development. They are nourishing, sustaining, and necessary foundations for
his life, but like bread, they can often become stale.
It wasn't love or nourishment that was missing. He just
needed more room to grow. Finally, I just had to
get to the point. I asked him, what's this all about.
(04:56):
I said, I got no problem with the military, but
why not do our in college. If you want to
go in the military, why do you need to go
down there and do this. There was a moment of
silence and a calm, self assured demeanor. He looked at me,
and without any doubt or hesitancy in his voice, he said, Dad,
(05:16):
I am not going to go to Stanford Business School,
and I'm not going to go to Harvard, and I
am not going to spend the rest of my life
working in an office. I want to be a captain
in the Green Berets. I was speechless. There was nothing
more I could say, and at that point I was done.
I was sold. He said he wanted to be an
(05:38):
officer in the Green Berets, work in special operations, and
be fluent in Arabic. He wanted to be a leader
and not a follower. Get hurt from his friend's cousin
that these men don't need to find themselves. They do
that every time they're standing in the doorway getting ready
to jump out of a plane. I asked him, are
you prepared to jump out of a perfectly good airplane
(05:59):
over Juria. His response was as simple yes. I could
see the look in his eyes were infused with his
youthful imagination and romanticism. But I knew he meant it.
I understood how he felt, and though I thought it
was a little early, I reminded myself that, after all,
it's just high school. He's not going off the war.
(06:23):
I knew too, that regardless of how far down this
path he goes, he will benefit from making this decision
and will learn a lot about himself in the process.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
This was his decision.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
He looked into his own insimpia life and realizes that
he needed to find a different path.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
To take him to a different place.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
He didn't know where that place was located, but his
imagination convinced him that it existed.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
He just had to find it.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
And when we come back, more of this terrific story
from Bob McLellan. And by the way, if you have
a storytellerr in your that you know can just well
hop out stories, send his or her information to us.
We know there are a great storytellers all over this
great country. More of the McLellan files after these messages,
(07:28):
liehbib here and I'd like to encourage you to subscribe
to our American Stories on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, Spotify,
or wherever you get our podcasts. Any story you missed
or want to hear again can be found there daily again.
Please subscribe to the Our American Stories podcast on Apple Podcasts,
(07:50):
the iHeartRadio app, or anywhere you get your podcasts. It
helps us keep these great American stories coming. This is
(08:20):
Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories. And we
pick up when we last left off with the McClelland files.
A young man, a boy having a dream in his head,
a vision in his head of leading a team overseas
in the Green Beret and making that next important move
to go to military school. Let's pick up where we
last left off.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
As a parent, I learned eventually I could not really
direct my children's lives anymore. Oh yeah, I could influence
or coursome, but I was no longer the director. In
this conversation with him that night, I realized I'd become
a spectator. I always believed as a father that the
best I could do was to prepare my children to
(09:03):
set their direction in life and be ready to live
with a success or failure of their choices. Now I
would have to honor that belief. Consequences exist in the
world of adults while children are protected from them. Families
like ours create barriers and boundaries and walls, trying to
keep out the grimmer and grimier aspects of society. But
(09:26):
to do that, we risk becoming in prison inside the walls,
holding on to the illusion that we are safe and
in control. We sent our children to private schools, put
alarm systems in our house, and we're careful about who
we invited into our home. But still we know that
no one is safe. We picked their friends, picked their
(09:47):
school and where they can go. But at some point
we can no longer be there to make their decisions
or supervise every activity, place, or person that comes.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Into their life.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
The point has to come or either I release them
or he just jerks his hand out of mind. Troubles
like drugs, teen suicides, mental illness, or just being lost
living at home with mom and dad have permeated through
the poorest walls of his school. He sees some of
his peers already making these dangers a lifestyle, and it
(10:19):
is one of the reasons why he wants to leave.
These dangers may be hidden among the many tomorrows of
his future. It was becoming apparent to me that Tommy
is not just running to someplace or running away from someplace.
I thought my wife and I would make all of
his decisions, but at some point I know we won't
(10:40):
be there to help him. To manage these serious difficulties.
He needs many attributes to get him through, and resourcefulness
sits at the top of that list. Resourcefulness is an
attribute that is part of the military bedrock. Planning for
the unexpected, adapting to fluid situations, and working with limited
(11:00):
resources are integral parts of military training. Our natural instinct
at home is to nurture our children. It is our
duty as parents. But being nurturing is not preparing them
to be self sufficient and independent. Eventually, the breast runs
dry and is incapable of providing nourishment for a man.
(11:21):
The appetite becomes too large when your son is six
feet tall and shaded without realizing it. Tommy's decision is
one that will help him develop the ability to take
care of himself.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Wow, what a concept.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Choosing for oneself which side of the wall is right
for you is the decision we all have to make.
Tommy chose the risk of being on the outside rather
than being inside in the safety of the center. His
confidence impressed me as evidence of both his desire for
independence and self reliance.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Regardless of the outcome, this is his choice.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
If he gets down there like taking seven classes a
day and training an hundred degree heat in the desert,
then that's just too bad. As far as I'm concerned,
I am sure this experience will teach him to be
very selective about what he chooses to do in the future.
He will certainly learn his limitations down there, as well
as his capabilities. Video games and drugs and alcohol hold
(12:20):
no lower or excitement for him. At NMI, he is
not allowed to even have a smartphone, and the internet
access is controlled by the school. It leaves all those
attachments and appendages here at home. There is no use
for them at the school. They will write letters instead
and carry a flip phone. A school seems to have
a policy that I embrace. Less is more. I told
(12:45):
him that the door only swings one way here and
other than leave or come home on vacations, don't come
back until you finish. He said, no problem, Dad. I
told all my children when they turn eighteen, three doors
will appear year in their life. The door to college,
the door to the military. In the front door, and
(13:10):
they're gonna go out on one of those three doors,
for sure, Aunt Tommy, he's the last to go. Afterwards,
my wife discussed the conversation with me, and she asked
what I thought was driving his decision. My answer to
her question was that he was bored. My high school campus,
full of kids that all grew up together, becomes a
(13:32):
very small world church for teenagers. Every Sunday, boy that
gets routine, real fast faith eventually fades away. Teachers telling
them all day what he's to believe doesn't challenge him
to think for himself. He doesn't learn to solve real problems,
but rather digital or paper Once and the novel All
(13:52):
Quiet on the Western Front, ball Bomber exclaims to his
former teacher after returning home on leave from the front
lines in World War One. You never taught us anything
really useful, like how to light a match in the
wind or.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Make a fire out of wet wood.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Sometimes it is the practical and not the theoretical education that
is important. He wants to take classes to fly a plane,
experience scuba diving, and repel out of a helicopter, run
an obstacle course. I'll learn about teamwork from teachers who
spent many years in the military. He's not interested in
being a digital cartoon characterization action figure.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
He wants to be a ill one. He wants to
be a Green Bereno.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Unless those ideas and dreams lie far out in the future,
though they may never materialize, I am comforted that he
has some starting point in his life. These are questions
his mother and I have discussed with him since that night,
The questions that he could not provide answers for he
(14:54):
told us he would find them when he gets there.
It was so apparent to me that my son was
becoming someone else.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
I could see.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
His hunger for adventure and challenge was contained in my
most favorite quote of all of literature, Shakespeare's play at
Taming of the Shrew. It introduces the Heiro Petruchio, who,
while writing into Padua, is greeted by a friend from
his hometown, who asks, Oh, Hail Petruchio, what winds blow
thee to Padua. He answers, such winds that scatter young
(15:26):
men through the world to seek their fortune farther from
home or small experience grows. These are the words that
help me understand my son's decision. I worry about his
mother and how she's feeling about the prospect of her.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Son leaving home at sixteen.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
She was unprepared and not happy about a separation so
soon from Tommy. Our other son, Bobby, had left for
college a year earlier, and she thought she would have
Tommy for two more years. The idea of spending twenty
years as a mother and then watching them leave home
is a painful experience for any mom, But his desire
(16:06):
was so credible and so sincere that she could only
say yes. She said she could not be so selfish
as to stand in the way of her son seeking
to make his life matter. At sixteen, she always said
that she put her children first. Her commitment to that
devotion puts her into the selfless position that how her
children feel is more important than how she feels. So
(16:29):
she is preparing herself for what will be one of
the most difficult sacrifices she could make for her children.
What a fine example of love.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
That is for me.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
I grew up in and served in the military, as
did most of my family, and though I will miss him,
I accept the idea that life is a journey through
a strange land, and each obstacle that's overcome becomes a
transition to the next place in life. This challenge will
expand the margins of Tommy's life and test his capabilities.
When we finally informed Tommy that he'd been accepted and
(17:03):
then he could go, I had a sense and I
would see a lot of Roswell New Mexico over the
next couple of years. I think my wife will insist
upon it.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
And what a terrific story and has always beautifully told
and written by Bob McLellan. And by the way, again,
if you know a storyteller in your town and your city,
in your community, and you know who they are, there
are a few people who can just really write and
tell a story. Then their names does. This is our
American Stories. The McLelland File
This is Lee Habib, and this is our American Stories.
And we talk about everything here on this show, from
the arts to sports, from history to business and everything
in between. And we love hearing your stories. Send them
and we'll take a few of them, take many of
them if possible, and turn them into stories right here
on the show, and put them up on the satellite
so you can hear them too. What we're doing here
(00:34):
is special. I think you know it. Share it with
friends and anywhere you can talk up what we're doing.
We appreciate it, and so too does your station. And
now it's time for the McLellan Files, where we go
deep inside the life of Bob McClellan, someone that you
don't know, but whose life and whose voice you're certain
(00:56):
to be captivated by.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
While watching a movie with my wife in the family
room one evening, we were interrupted by our sixteen year
old son, Tommy, who walked in and sat down with us. Politely,
He said he had something important he wanted to discuss
with us. As I turned off the TV, I quickly
imagined all the possibilities of something terrible, disastrous, or difficult
(01:21):
that could force a sixteen year old boy to sit
down to talk with his parents about anything important. My wife,
with her eyes wide open, sat silently while we all
got settled in to hear what he had to say.
I could not remember his approaching us like this before,
and my expectations, coupled with my imagination, made me feel
very uncomfortable. He began to tell us about a friend
(01:44):
whose cousin attended the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell,
New Mexico, for high school. That cousin is now captained
in the Green Berets, and his teaching math at West Point.
Tommy was very impressed by that and said he wanted
to go there for their two years of high school.
He talked about the academic standing of the school, the
(02:05):
numerous activities that were available, and the challenges he felt
the school would present him. As he spoke, I was
still unprepared for the ending of his story. Calmly and
ever so smoothly, he discussed his desire to attend such
a school and pursue a college education that no doubt
had a military career.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
As its ultimate destination.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
His mother countered with a gentle return to reason when
she said, you're going to a fine private high school
here in the Bay Area. Why would you want to
leave all of your friends? More straightforward questions came from me,
like are you unhappy? Oh, do you want drugs? He
said he was prepared to leave his friends as he
would make new ones at the school, and though it
(02:49):
was a military school, he was not enlisting and would
still be a high school student. He returned to talking
about the courses and activities offered by the school and
its academic reputation. He thought the disciplined and focus would
help him be more successful. It was obvious he had
done his homework, and it was evidence of how seriously
he took this idea of leaving home, traveling and living
(03:12):
at the school and taking on a rigorous academic and
physical regiment at sixteen years of age. Young though he
may be, he had reached a fork on the road
in his life that his mother and myself didn't see.
We asked why would he want to be going to
a military institute that sat out in the middle of
the New Mexican Desert.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
It was their reputation, he said.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
In their one year prep program, ninety seven percent go
on to one of the military academies. Out of a
total of nine hundred students ninety went on to the
military academies. He thought that by doing well at NMI,
he could pick any college he wanted to attend, and,
after graduation from college, become an officer. I began to
(04:02):
suspect that he was poored living under the shady trees
amidst a wealthy suburb south of San Francisco. A bedroom
community offers a little excitement punching a time clock, working
at a retail store, or hanging around with your friends,
playing with your foe, or living at home. There's a
lotless adventurous and exciting than traveling around the different places,
(04:22):
living within a community where thirty percent of the student
body is international one hundred percent or former military.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
And meeting the many challenges that the military presents.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
We reminded him that home and community are important for
his development. They are nourishing, sustaining, and necessary foundations for
his life, but like bread, they can often become stale.
It wasn't love or nourishment that was missing. He just
needed more room to grow. Finally, I just had to
get to the point. I asked him, what's this all about.
(04:56):
I said, I got no problem with the military, but
why not do our in college. If you want to
go in the military, why do you need to go
down there and do this. There was a moment of
silence and a calm, self assured demeanor. He looked at me,
and without any doubt or hesitancy in his voice, he said, Dad,
(05:16):
I am not going to go to Stanford Business School,
and I'm not going to go to Harvard, and I
am not going to spend the rest of my life
working in an office. I want to be a captain
in the Green Berets. I was speechless. There was nothing
more I could say, and at that point I was done.
I was sold. He said he wanted to be an
(05:38):
officer in the Green Berets, work in special operations, and
be fluent in Arabic. He wanted to be a leader
and not a follower. Get hurt from his friend's cousin
that these men don't need to find themselves. They do
that every time they're standing in the doorway getting ready
to jump out of a plane. I asked him, are
you prepared to jump out of a perfectly good airplane
(05:59):
over Juria. His response was as simple yes. I could
see the look in his eyes were infused with his
youthful imagination and romanticism. But I knew he meant it.
I understood how he felt, and though I thought it
was a little early, I reminded myself that, after all,
it's just high school. He's not going off the war.
(06:23):
I knew too, that regardless of how far down this
path he goes, he will benefit from making this decision
and will learn a lot about himself in the process.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
This was his decision.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
He looked into his own insimpia life and realizes that
he needed to find a different path.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
To take him to a different place.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
He didn't know where that place was located, but his
imagination convinced him that it existed.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
He just had to find it.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
And when we come back, more of this terrific story
from Bob McLellan. And by the way, if you have
a storytellerr in your that you know can just well
hop out stories, send his or her information to us.
We know there are a great storytellers all over this
great country. More of the McLellan files after these messages,
(07:28):
liehbib here and I'd like to encourage you to subscribe
to our American Stories on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, Spotify,
or wherever you get our podcasts. Any story you missed
or want to hear again can be found there daily again.
Please subscribe to the Our American Stories podcast on Apple Podcasts,
(07:50):
the iHeartRadio app, or anywhere you get your podcasts. It
helps us keep these great American stories coming. This is
(08:20):
Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories. And we
pick up when we last left off with the McClelland files.
A young man, a boy having a dream in his head,
a vision in his head of leading a team overseas
in the Green Beret and making that next important move
to go to military school. Let's pick up where we
last left off.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
As a parent, I learned eventually I could not really
direct my children's lives anymore. Oh yeah, I could influence
or coursome, but I was no longer the director. In
this conversation with him that night, I realized I'd become
a spectator. I always believed as a father that the
best I could do was to prepare my children to
(09:03):
set their direction in life and be ready to live
with a success or failure of their choices. Now I
would have to honor that belief. Consequences exist in the
world of adults while children are protected from them. Families
like ours create barriers and boundaries and walls, trying to
keep out the grimmer and grimier aspects of society. But
(09:26):
to do that, we risk becoming in prison inside the walls,
holding on to the illusion that we are safe and
in control. We sent our children to private schools, put
alarm systems in our house, and we're careful about who
we invited into our home. But still we know that
no one is safe. We picked their friends, picked their
(09:47):
school and where they can go. But at some point
we can no longer be there to make their decisions
or supervise every activity, place, or person that comes.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Into their life.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
The point has to come or either I release them
or he just jerks his hand out of mind. Troubles
like drugs, teen suicides, mental illness, or just being lost
living at home with mom and dad have permeated through
the poorest walls of his school. He sees some of
his peers already making these dangers a lifestyle, and it
(10:19):
is one of the reasons why he wants to leave.
These dangers may be hidden among the many tomorrows of
his future. It was becoming apparent to me that Tommy
is not just running to someplace or running away from someplace.
I thought my wife and I would make all of
his decisions, but at some point I know we won't
(10:40):
be there to help him. To manage these serious difficulties.
He needs many attributes to get him through, and resourcefulness
sits at the top of that list. Resourcefulness is an
attribute that is part of the military bedrock. Planning for
the unexpected, adapting to fluid situations, and working with limited
(11:00):
resources are integral parts of military training. Our natural instinct
at home is to nurture our children. It is our
duty as parents. But being nurturing is not preparing them
to be self sufficient and independent. Eventually, the breast runs
dry and is incapable of providing nourishment for a man.
(11:21):
The appetite becomes too large when your son is six
feet tall and shaded without realizing it. Tommy's decision is
one that will help him develop the ability to take
care of himself.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Wow, what a concept.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Choosing for oneself which side of the wall is right
for you is the decision we all have to make.
Tommy chose the risk of being on the outside rather
than being inside in the safety of the center. His
confidence impressed me as evidence of both his desire for
independence and self reliance.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Regardless of the outcome, this is his choice.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
If he gets down there like taking seven classes a
day and training an hundred degree heat in the desert,
then that's just too bad. As far as I'm concerned,
I am sure this experience will teach him to be
very selective about what he chooses to do in the future.
He will certainly learn his limitations down there, as well
as his capabilities. Video games and drugs and alcohol hold
(12:20):
no lower or excitement for him. At NMI, he is
not allowed to even have a smartphone, and the internet
access is controlled by the school. It leaves all those
attachments and appendages here at home. There is no use
for them at the school. They will write letters instead
and carry a flip phone. A school seems to have
a policy that I embrace. Less is more. I told
(12:45):
him that the door only swings one way here and
other than leave or come home on vacations, don't come
back until you finish. He said, no problem, Dad. I
told all my children when they turn eighteen, three doors
will appear year in their life. The door to college,
the door to the military. In the front door, and
(13:10):
they're gonna go out on one of those three doors,
for sure, Aunt Tommy, he's the last to go. Afterwards,
my wife discussed the conversation with me, and she asked
what I thought was driving his decision. My answer to
her question was that he was bored. My high school campus,
full of kids that all grew up together, becomes a
(13:32):
very small world church for teenagers. Every Sunday, boy that
gets routine, real fast faith eventually fades away. Teachers telling
them all day what he's to believe doesn't challenge him
to think for himself. He doesn't learn to solve real problems,
but rather digital or paper Once and the novel All
(13:52):
Quiet on the Western Front, ball Bomber exclaims to his
former teacher after returning home on leave from the front
lines in World War One. You never taught us anything
really useful, like how to light a match in the
wind or.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Make a fire out of wet wood.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Sometimes it is the practical and not the theoretical education that
is important. He wants to take classes to fly a plane,
experience scuba diving, and repel out of a helicopter, run
an obstacle course. I'll learn about teamwork from teachers who
spent many years in the military. He's not interested in
being a digital cartoon characterization action figure.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
He wants to be a ill one. He wants to
be a Green Bereno.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Unless those ideas and dreams lie far out in the future,
though they may never materialize, I am comforted that he
has some starting point in his life. These are questions
his mother and I have discussed with him since that night,
The questions that he could not provide answers for he
(14:54):
told us he would find them when he gets there.
It was so apparent to me that my son was
becoming someone else.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
I could see.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
His hunger for adventure and challenge was contained in my
most favorite quote of all of literature, Shakespeare's play at
Taming of the Shrew. It introduces the Heiro Petruchio, who,
while writing into Padua, is greeted by a friend from
his hometown, who asks, Oh, Hail Petruchio, what winds blow
thee to Padua. He answers, such winds that scatter young
(15:26):
men through the world to seek their fortune farther from
home or small experience grows. These are the words that
help me understand my son's decision. I worry about his
mother and how she's feeling about the prospect of her.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Son leaving home at sixteen.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
She was unprepared and not happy about a separation so
soon from Tommy. Our other son, Bobby, had left for
college a year earlier, and she thought she would have
Tommy for two more years. The idea of spending twenty
years as a mother and then watching them leave home
is a painful experience for any mom, But his desire
(16:06):
was so credible and so sincere that she could only
say yes. She said she could not be so selfish
as to stand in the way of her son seeking
to make his life matter. At sixteen, she always said
that she put her children first. Her commitment to that
devotion puts her into the selfless position that how her
children feel is more important than how she feels. So
(16:29):
she is preparing herself for what will be one of
the most difficult sacrifices she could make for her children.
What a fine example of love.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
That is for me.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
I grew up in and served in the military, as
did most of my family, and though I will miss him,
I accept the idea that life is a journey through
a strange land, and each obstacle that's overcome becomes a
transition to the next place in life. This challenge will
expand the margins of Tommy's life and test his capabilities.
When we finally informed Tommy that he'd been accepted and
(17:03):
then he could go, I had a sense and I
would see a lot of Roswell New Mexico over the
next couple of years. I think my wife will insist
upon it.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
And what a terrific story and has always beautifully told
and written by Bob McLellan. And by the way, again,
if you know a storyteller in your town and your city,
in your community, and you know who they are, there
are a few people who can just really write and
tell a story. Then their names does. This is our
American Stories. The McLelland File
Host
Lee Habeeb
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