Impact (courtesy Dr. Andy McLean)

Our country is grappling with serious issues, including political violence, freedom of speech, and marked partisan division. Oftentimes, we look at people with whom we disagree as “other,” as “outsiders.” However, the more local an individual, the less “other,” they tend to be, though certain exceptions apply.

As noted recently by the Grand Forks Herald, one such local individual who’s career surprisingly had an impact on national journalism and freedom of speech died last week. Many decades before Marilyn Hagerty became internationally known for her food review of The Olive Garden, she had been the editor of her student paper at the University of South Dakota. In that role, she hired and mentored a young student, Al Neuharth, who went on to found USA Today and later, The Freedom Forum — said to be the foremost advocate for First Amendment freedoms.

As noted in a previous column of mine on mentorship, we often don’t recognize the impact we have on others’ lives. As a psychiatrist, I don’t want to make people feel paranoid, but truth be told, “people are watching.” Students pay attention to how an instructor models teaching and professionalism. Teachers are watching how students manage the stress and rigors of academia. Students, staff, and faculty watch administrators and how they lead an organization. Sometimes the “watch” is a long one—formative over extended periods of time. Sometimes the impact comes in a reflection point—an “a-ha moment.”

In that vein, I’ll leave you with a poem from an academic journal:

There is nothing more flattering

Than being useful and forgettable–

Hearing a paraphrase

Of one’s words from times past

Coming out of another’s mouth

As if they were their own.

It is the legacy of a capable teacher.

Acknowledgement

Is simply icing on the cake.