Marc's Musings

By Marcus Sheridan

With each edition of 'The Wave', I'm going write about whatever is on my mind outside of the pool/spa industry. These thoughts will be found in 'Marc's Musings' and hopefully won't bore everyone to death, but if they do, I most certainly apologize…..

Something weird has been happening to me since the days of my youth back in good old Northumberland High School. You see, back in those days, I was your stereotypical jock, certainly much more worried about sports and girls than I was about my academics. I believe my GPA in high school was a whopping 2.4. Not too shabby, ehh? But since those glory years, and with the lessons of marriage, 2 children, and trying to establish a business, something has changed within me. As I approach 30, I find that I now have a much greater desire to learn. About what you may ask? Really, I just want to learn about anything that will help make me a better person in some way. Allow me to give an example.

When I was younger, there was nothing more painful to me than reading a long book. I genuinely abhorred reading, unless of course the material was a Sports Illustrated magazine. The thought of reading a "classic" was even more repulsive and quite frankly made absolutely no sense to me. But times have certainly changed, as have my views on the great authors and literature of heroes past. For example, I am currently engulfed in a beautiful novel, "Les Miserables", by Victor Hugo. These days, when I'm able to sit and open its beautiful pages, I find that it's not my desire any longer to just get through the book, but rather, as Neil Maxwell once said, have the book go through me. The story of "Les Miserables" is one of forgiveness, humility, patriotism, human relations, and so much more. I find myself underlining many of Hugo's profound thoughts on almost every page of the novel. Its words and message are truly beautiful, and I would strongly recommend it to anyone, especially if you are feeling low or if life has brought you any difficult hardships.

I wish I had developed this love of learning at a younger age, but of course hind-sight is 20/20 and having this desire now gives me a bright hope and an enthusiasm for a lifetime of learning. Now if I can just figure out a way to help my kids not miss the opportunities I may have missed out on, but then again, such is what parenthood is all about, and is what makes the calling of "parent" such a special one. I'll close this little column with a quote from Hugo's "Les Miserables", speaking about the story's hero, Jean Valjean:

"He always took his meals alone with a book open before him in which he read. His library was small but well selected. He loved books; books are cold but sure friends. As his growing fortune gave him more leisure, it seemed that he profited by it to cultivate his mind."