Despite an Accent

He did not. Although grateful, he felt he outgrew Daniel Murphy’s rigid cod of uniforms and, by now, his personality was blooming into independence and sophistication. He wanted to go to Beverly Hills High School and, although not trilled with the idea, I agreed and even pulled some strings to get him accepted (we did not live in the city of Beverly Hills as required by internal regulations). At the most talked about school in the world, my son felt as a fish in fresh water; part of it, because it is mostly frequented by children of immigrants (very rich ones for that matter). Having an accent and being from Europe, at the Beverly Hills High School, was chic. The freedom of dressing up anyway he wanted, but most importantly, the exposure Mircea got to a school of first class reputation (the school has its own radio and TV station as well as tennis courts and swimming pools) made a world of difference in his self esteem. At that time the TV show “90210” was running in Romania as well and all his friends from back home could see the very upscale environment Mircea was part of. That was a stroke to his ego. To my surprise, he was also proud to drive an old Honda when everybody else was driving a BMW or a Mercedes; he has learned to celebrate his uniqueness rather than being overwhelmed by it.

At times he will take “his unique personality” to some extremes and I was called by his advisor to do the needed explaining. Knowing that the complained had everything to do with smoking, I arranged to meet the advisor outdoors and had a cigarette in my hand, demonstratively. I was fully aware of the drugs that were circulating freely in the school grounds and told the advisor that smoking is a lesser evil and I encouraged my son to do that rather than what was silently accepted as “normal” teenage behavior. He was not pleased with my answer, but he knew they had a problem at the school, so he let it go, so Mircea was never suspended.