mrs nauhaus's classroom

Mrs. Ida Plant Nauhaus was my 6th grade home room teacher at the Linden Elementary School. She was a very tough lady, and tolerated no nonsense in her room. Kids did not talk back, act out, misbehave, or do anything while sitting at their desks that Mrs, Nauhaus did not permit.

When a kid actually found the guts to act up, act out or misbehave, Mrs. Nauhaus responded immediately, instantly and without any hesitation. Even while she was writing on the chalkboard back to the classroom, her keen eyes in the back of the head eyesight spotted the perp and within the sound of light she turned and called out his or her name.

There were kids who caused trouble and kids who supported the kid causing the trouble, and the few followers who thought it might make them more popular if they acted as if they too thought causing trouble was cool.

At first, Mrs. Nauhaus would call the culprits name in a voice so deep it made the sound of Regan, the young possessed girl in the Exorcist movie sound like a soprano. Then Mrs. Nauhaus would pause and ask, rhetorically, (I was too young to understand that kind of question), who else is guilty, who else prompted this behavior?

The first person to become indignant was of course the kid causing the interruption in class activity, followed by his/her immediate cronies and then a smattering of the want to be popular followers. The good kids, the non involved kids, the kids who understood the rules, regulations, limits and consequences remained silent and said nothing at all. If they were not guilty, why even say a thing. If they did not abide in the mayhem, support it, or condone it, they had nothing to argue with.

Although the question was rhetoric in nature, the answers made it quite easy for Mrs. Nauhaus to then deliver the consequences. Justice in Mrs. Nauhaus classroom was simple, the culprit stood inside the cloakroom and the rest of the class had a homework project writing an essay on irresponsible behavior.

There was a shooting, murders in Tucson, no one knows the real reason for this horrendous action, many are contemplating why. No one has been called out by the likes of Mrs. Nauhaus, but many cronies and followers of the Republican/Tea Bag community seem to be shouting, we are not responsible, it wasn't us, we didn't do it.

Just curious how life imitates life...