Some people love stage managing a fight, then they stand back and watch the resulting chaos as names are called and reputations maligned. Thank God I never succumbed to the folly of youth, although I came very close to ‘burning my bridges’.
However, 30 years on, I now appreciate that my so-called ‘enemy’ – the man who was always on my back – was invariably right. I was working as a trainee journalist and he repeatedly made me re-write copy, took me to task on poor spelling and turned me into the world’s worst pedant. Yes, I have a book about English Grammar which goes with me everywhere! Was he wrong? No! He was simply hammering an 18 year old into shape. I would write a story about an arson attack and comment that there had been ‘£20,000 worth of damage’. He would red pen my copy and say ‘damage isn’t worth anything!’. He would ask me if it was Jeffrey with a J or a G……then ring the person in question to check that I had checked. Was he wrong. No! At the time I thought he was but, now, three decades on I realise he was doing his job and making sure that I did mine.When I finally handed in my notice to move on, there were so many people who wanted me to ‘have a go’. Fortunately I didn’t. And if I had, I would have somehow found a way to justify my inappropriate behaviour. So, before you burn your bridges and achieve 10 seconds of glory and a lifetime of regret, think about America’s literary son, Mark Twain: ” Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen.