I'd like to share a story here about Dwight D. Eisenhower president of the United States from 1953 to 1960. Some of you, like me, will remember his presidency!
When he was a second year cadet at West Point, a first year cadet bumped into him and fell on the ground because of the impact. At the time, it was the duty of upperclassmen at West Point to haze the plebes as the new cadets were called. This was probably meant to test their mettle and toughen them up. One of the ways the upperclassmen would haze and belittle the plebes was by asking them silly questions. So Ike, seizing the opportunity, asked the plebe, "Mister, what was your previous condition of servitude? You look like . . . you look like” — Ike searched for a profession quite detached from military grandeur — “You look like a barber!” "Sir, I was a barber," responded the young man. Ike choked up and walked away without saying anything. Later he confessed to his roommate, “I’ve just done something stupid and unforgivable. I managed to make a man ashamed of what he did to earn a living.”
Ike made a vow that he would never again belittle other people in humble circumstances.
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