My students had been exchanging views of life, what my previous supervisor scorned as philosophizing, and on this day the idealism and sentimentality of my students had been unusually contagious. Their discussion reminded me of something I had just seen on TV. ESPN had broadcast a special program on baseball players still living who had hit five hundred or more home runs in their major league careers. One was former Chicago Cub Ernie Banks, famous also for his irrepressible good humor and optimism. In a short interview he had been asked about the source of his constant and incredible happiness. Mr. Banks attributed it to the advice his grandmother had given him when he was a child, and in the mellow mood of the moment I confessed that I agreed with Grandma Banks and I recited her words for my students:

“Give, give, give and, when you’ve given all you’ve got, keep on giving!”
    
“Oh no, no, no, no, no!” a woman in the front row exclaimed.

She frowned, she shook her head no, adamantly no, and she spoke and waved her hand and arm to be acknowledged—all at the same time.

Curious, I raised an eyebrow:    No?

“Do and you’ll be used!” she warned.