Man life is crazy....and man how time passes so quickly...
Well I was doing a Google search on my name (damn I'm fuckin egotistical aren't I? haha)...and something I wrote a few years back came up. It was on the Bishop Amat website and it was a dedication page to the life of Mr. Charles Policare.
Man this guy...he was always grumpy...but so frickin hilarious and awesome. I seriously can't NOT smile when I think of him and the memories...ahh...
Mr. Charles Policare, whether he knew it or not, was one of the few people to mentor me during my final two years at Amat. I was fortunate enough to be in his AP English Comp. & Lit. class my junior year. I woke up Saturday morning, the day of his passing, to the sound of the telephone ringing. I could not believe my ears: "Mr. Policare's gone..." For a moment I was shocked, but some part of me didn't want to believe it was true. It wasn't until the next evening during a song at Mass that it suddenly hit me...it was truly heartbreaking. As a teacher, he was genuinely concerned for his students' well-being, and that, ultimately, they learn something in the classroom. He loved to kid with you and be your friend, yet he earned your respect as a man and a teacher. I remember standing at the podium in class and reading an essay aloud. When I was finished he heckled me for using too much "balderdash." He nagged the entire class not to use "balderdash" in our work and to write assertively..."I know," not "I think." "It is," not "Perhaps." My senior year, I saw him almost as much as I did the previous year, though he was no longer my teacher or counselor. He was just "a guy" I seemed to run into all the time and we would talk about anything...or at least he would listen to whatever I had to tell him or ask him about. I will always remember the way he said "hoat doags" and "coaffee" in a New "Joisey" accent. I will remember how he, along with Mr. Daniel Valdez, challenged me to a push-up contest to get me ready for my summer visit to West Point....the thing is he actually got down on the floor and pumped out 20, right then and there. All in all, he was a teacher who just happened to be your "average Joe." Yet something about him made him so wonderful and special. WE ALL will love you, miss you, and remember you. Our hearts and prayers go out to you, Mr. Policare. Chris A. Zambrano -- Class of 2002
