Years ago, a Midwestern University unveiled a plaque honoring an undistinguished alumnus. During his college years, this alumnus had participated in a variety of campus activities, but he had never been president of any organization. For four years he had gone out for football, but he had never made the first team or played in an important game. His scholastic average was in the B’s. When World War I came, he served in a minor capacity in a medical unit, and one day met his death trying to help a wounded man under fire. The French government decorated him posthumously. So, his alma mater put up a plaque in his honor. The inscription reads: “He played four years on the scrubs – he never quit!”

It occurs to me that that is one of the highest tributes that could be paid to anyone – that he d…