It was a different world back then. Educators prepared students for competition, not fairness. I prefer fairness all the way.
I was in kindergarten with Mrs. Shell at Rockford Christian Elementary School. She had just read us "Where the Wild Things Are." Our assignment was to draw a scene from the book and our incentives were lollipops. Not the lame dum-dum lolli's, oh no. These were the best of all lolli's. These were those tantalizing red heart lolli's with the word "LOVE" written in that white edible ink that came off on your tongue.
The sadistic turn in the plot came with these words from my teacher, "Only the very best pictures will get a lollipop." I was motivated. I decided to get extra points by drawing, not just a picture, but an entire scene. You will remember the one. The little boy is sitting in his tall, draped, striped tent wearing that crown.
I colored with my heart. I used different mediums to enhance the detail (crayons AND pencils) And in my objective opinion, my picture was by far the best.
At the end of the day, Mrs. Shell had layed each picture out on the floor at the back of the room for retrieval. I ran back and, you know it is coming, right? I looked to the picture to the left of my masterpiece. Lollipop. I looked to the picture on the right. Lollipop. I looked down at my own. No. Lollipop. No red heart. No white, yummy LOVE letters. Nothing. Just my rejected opus, lollipop-less.
I actually felt my heart sink into my stomach. The election was obviously rigged. That was the only explanation. My shock quickly turned to anger and embarrassment.
I walked out of the classroom to my waiting mother, unable to get the words out. How could I explain why every other child had a white/red tongue but me?? I decided to spare her the truth of my failure and I swallowed my despair.
I have never ever read "Where the Wild Things Are" to my children. Some scars just do not heal. And I give my children lollipops freely and without the ambiguous strings of my childhood.
No comments:
Post a Comment