“The only wisdom we can hope to acquire is the wisdom of humility. Humility is endless.” - Four Quartets, T.S. Eliot // 

Jay Brooks ‘10 is a United States Marine, Harvard graduate (‘14), and an aspiring doctor. He returned to Gilman in the spring of 2021 to teach a senior history elective, “Perspectives in Modern War.” //

In Episode #31 of the Path to Follow Podcast, Jake and Jay cover a variety of topics, including: transitioning out of the Marine Corps, returning to teach at Gilman for a semester, Jay’s course called “Perspectives in Modern War,” Tribe by Sebastian Junger (2016), Junger’s experiences in Afghanistan, unity borne from trauma, dependability and sacrifice, alienation in modern society, living through historical moments, national cohesion and lack thereof, Phil Clay’s short stories in Redeployment (2014), what inspired Jay to serve, balancing academics, athletics, and ROTC at Harvard, training for the Marine Corps, leadership lessons in the military, gripe up versus gripe down, the overlaps of sports and the military, John Wooden, whether leadership is innate or learned, courage as a habit, deployment to Iraq, the nonpartisan ethic of the military, Tulsi Gabbard and Dan Crenshaw, partnerships in the Middle East, the Sykes-Picot Agreement and borders in the Middle East, Jay’s fond memories as a student at Gilman, humility in T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets, and the capacity to forgive. // 

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Many thanks to the all-powerful Cesare Ciccanti for his efforts on production. //