A Trilogy Part 2
I was in 7th grade, the year 1962, it was my Social Studies Class (imagine a curriculum designed to instruct students about the world around us). Our classroom was on the second floor, the school had those very high windows, which always required a very long rod with a tiny hook on the edge to be used to latch onto the the lock at the top of the window; permitting easy access to open or shut the windows. We were in 7th grade and our Social Studies teacher reminded us during our very first day in September that we were young men and women, and each of us had responsibilities, all of which should be taken with pride and in earnest. (I knew the word earnest, and its meaning, but somehow once our teacher used it in a sentence to describe all of us, many of us then used it as a nickname whenever an insult was necessary, like Hey Earnest your shoe is untied…it was 1962). One day, the teacher asked the kid who always was cracking jokes, to unlock the window. This guy was a popular kid, and usually was king of the hill, and never ever was called Earnest. He was a cocky kid, and when asked to open the window, stood up and shouted “ma’m, yes ma’m”. It seemed funny, but laughter was not tolerated in this classroom. (Why is it always so difficult to stifle a laugh while sitting in a classroom). This guy walked over to the long window rod with the hook on it, sort of showing off at just how dexterous he was, and how simple of a task this should be. (It was not, for most of the rest of the boys who were tasked in opening the window…girls need not apply to do manual labor in this classroom) Usually, the opening of the window was stressful for everyone, especially anyone who ever tried to do it, so most of the class tried their hardest to NOT watch. The teacher was about to explain to the classroom all about the ABC countries of South America…Argentina, Brazil, Chile, so she was standing at the chalk board, writing the names of the ABC nations, her back to the classroom…As the teacher was writing the word Chile, there was a sudden crashing sound and a shattering of what sounded like glass…all of this followed by a bellowing, “God Damn It.”
There was a collective shout, a few giggles (we had cause to finally let that held in laughter out, and also added some wow’s! Still with her back to the classroom, the teacher continued to finish the spelling of the word Chile, then turned to face the class. There was silence, total silence, except for the kid who was not so dexterous, he was still saying “God Damn It.” The teacher, now moving toward her desk (in those days they were front and center of the classroom with invisible barbed wire strung around for good measure) She bent down slowly but surely, reached for something (we were all certain it was either a large bandage as the show off kid was bleeding, or a paddle…(yep corporal punishment thrived in 1962). But the collective we were all wrong, our teacher pulled out a Bible. (in those days we read a passage from the King James Bible, recited the Lord’s Prayer and stood for the Pledge of Allegiance…those were the days also before any kind of integration and at least 95% of the student body were from Jewish families in the neighborhood). The teacher held up the Bible, almost as a show and tell item. The teacher then almost in a trance, said…”No one shall ever use the Lord’s name in vein, THIS IS AMERICA! Then the teacher said to all of us, place your hands on your desk folded and leave them there, while we (the kid bleeding pretty badly and I) go to the nurses office, and think about the Lord.” Trump has been crowned king, he is the omnipresent, the one Evangelicals believe was anointed by Christ. He is the GUY who is now representing AMERICA. When I grew older and with advent of the 70’s and beyond, I thought I knew another kind of America. But as my 7th grade Social Studies teacher reminded us, THIS IS AMERICA…not just for everyone!
