Let me begin by making my prejudice perfectly clear. In the late summer of 1963, shortly before I entered Staunton Military Academy (SMA) as a 7th grader 200 miles from my home, my mother took me from Boonville, North Carolina, into Winston-Salem to watch the recently released movie “Lawrence of Arabia.” My five younger siblings remained at home, and spending this time alone with Mom marks this event as a special moment from my childhood. Director David Lean’s film blew me away and remains one of the touchstones of my childhood. Scenes from that movie, which starred Peter O’Toole as Lawrence, somehow implanted themselves into my brain and being. When I reached SMA, I checked out Lawrence’s “Revolt in the Desert” from the library and read it twice. I even wrote to Mom and asked her to send me a box of dates, such as Lawrence might have eaten. How …