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                         May 30, 2003

	Murphy's Law Commentary by  Capt. Patrick Murphy USMA Dept. of Law "Far and away, the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." Theodore Roosevelt

As my Murphy’s Law column comes to an end (this is the final one), so too does my time at West Point.

In Ecclesiastes 7:8 it says, "Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof." Hopefully that holds true for my column, the cadets graduating tomorrow and all of us spending our lives here at West Point.

Cultivating winners
When I was an ROTC cadet many years ago, my role model was General Colin Powell. He spoke with such eloquence when, as the 1998 Thayer Award Winner, he told the Corps, "For all its beauty and history, West Point is just a pile of stone until you bring it to life every day. You can inscribe Duty, Honor, Country on every granite block and it would mean nothing unless those words are engraved in your heart. You bring the code alive every day by the dozens of decisions you make every day."

I remembered and revisited that comment over these past few years. There are so many moments that stirred an awakening in me about what our profession is all about. Often, I’d write those comments in my journal.

One of these times was a few weeks ago sitting in Lt. Col. Alan Bourque’s office, the First Regimental Tactical Officer.

Bourque was describing to a cadet what it takes to be an officer. He talked with passion about the pressures of the job and our mission to "cultivate winners within our platoon or company."

Each year, the best students and achievers worldwide enter our ranks. Of this year’s plebes, 71 percent were in the top 20 percent of their high school class and 87 percent were varsity letter winners.

While here, they continue to excel as evidenced by four Rhodes and five Marshall Scholars being selected from among the Coprs the past two years.

But another testament of their success is at events such as the Special Olympics. Just two weeks ago, hundreds of special athletes came to the Hudson Valley to compete. Hundreds of cadets, soldiers and civilians came out to volunteer to make this event another great success. It was a total team effort and another example of what leadership and cultivating winners is all about.

It is this team effort here -- with soldiers, cafeteria workers, janitors, teachers, mentors, civilians, fellow cadets, parents and siblings sharing their life with cadets -- that make this a premier leadership institution.

Bobby Kennedy once said, "Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope... and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples builds a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

Here’s hoping West Point continues to live up to its ideal and continues the tiny ripple of hope throughout the world. There is no doubt that the Class of 2003 will be asked to represent America and the values and ideals she stands for in their role as leaders.

Conclusion
Kennedy also said, "The youth of our nation are the clearest mirror of our performance."

With that sentiment in mind, I salute everyone for a job well done in making tomorrow a special day for some of America’s best and brightest.

Thank you also for making me feel like a quasi-member of the Long Gray Line.

I hope our paths cross again.