TOM, DICK AND HARRY

I had no dealings with the Dynamic Duo, but I did teach the Troublesome Trio.

These Cardiff kids were smarter than Banjo Patterson’s “gilded youths” and not clones of the Three Stooges. You might say they were more akin to the Three Wise Monkeys; perpetrators of mischief who neither heard, nor saw, nor said anything amiss.

To protect them, and myself, I will refer to them as Tom, Dick and Harry.

Tom mouthed crude expressions to the wrong people. Limited in imagination, his abuse always related to taxidermy skills. He needed speech therapy. My sessions with Tom and his mum though, struggled to modify his behaviour.

Dick, an upsized kid, was a bully. His stature and cheek intimidated others, and if cornered he came out fighting—verbally and physically.

In contrast, Harry did not have the dubious attributes of his mates. A quiet loner who gravitated to his cronies in the belief they accepted him. True, they treated him as a punching bag, but Harry reckoned some attention was preferable to none.

Now these guys all marched to the beat of the same drum—inseparable. It did seem unfair that, when the group courted trouble, Harry was largely “guilty by association”.

At the end of Junior School, Tom and Dick left. Harry, in the Senior School, stood out like a chicken sexer at the neurosurgeon’s ball; introverted, isolated, and academically challenged.

Sure he faltered. Nonetheless, as the weeks progressed he found his own line to walk. This time, instead of following in the “vans” of others, he strived for his personal objectives. With trepidation he made new friends and discovered subjects which provided a measure of success. One sensed an inner resolve.

Try as I might, I cannot recall his quiz results for the final year.

Then again, test scores are not always the pinnacle of High School. Maturity and self-reliance bring greater rewards.

“Too many people overvalue what they are not, and undervalue what they are.”

Malcolm Forbes (1919-1990) Publisher

Notes

• The “Dynamic Duo” were, of course, Batman and Robin.
• The “gilded youths” is a quote from A B “Banjo” Patterson’s poem, “The Man from Ironbark”.
• The “Three Wise Monkeys”, (sometimes called the three mystic apes), originated in Japan and embody the notion to “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”.

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