I'v Got Friends In Low Places

Reflective Journal: Describe some of the defining events when you were growing up. How did those events influence your beliefs and behaviors and those of your friends?

I attended a private Christian school during my elementary years. I had a lot of energy, divorced parents and few friends. However, I do believe that this was the best possible way for me to grow up and be who I am today, this is because I now wish to to teach all students. When I attended elementary school, although I was a good student in most areas I did not excel in my math comprehension and I struggled to complete assignments. I was often teased for inability to complete my homework which provoked even more apathy and elementary school laden angst. However, there was someone who actually was more teased than I was, his name was Greg.

"Greg, is different."

I remember being told when he came to our school. He came from a big family and his siblings seemed normal but he had difficulty changing clothes and he, "smelled funny." I felt sorry for Greg. I knew what it was like to be teased and I would never consider Greg my friend, but I distinctly remember how he was treated. He was bigger than most of the people in my class and he would try to intimidate students that mocked him. He would get into fights and get sent home early. I knew many people that would try to provoke him as a source of entertainment in our small school.

As an adult I am now fully understand what it means when someone has obsessive compulsive disorder, but as a child it seems imaginary, or at least different. The teachers knew Greg was always being picked on but in many ways I don't think they understood the severity of his condition either. I remember the taunting did not seem very christian even at a young age. Cognitive dissonance is not completely lost on the innocent. Greg had endured the most torture from our classmate Brian. Brian was a bully. Not the archetypal bully. He was clean cut looking and popular. His family donated a lot of money to the school. He was untouchable. I guess one could call it "Lessons in Boss Tweedom," one could call it.

Brian was a mean boy. He picked on me for being a tomboy. He pelted a basketball at my stomach from a foot away and I got suspended for swearing to myself in the corner. I guess one could call it "Lessons in sexism." He did not do it because he had a crush on me; he was just mean.

My elementary school sent all of the sixth graders to Christian Science Camp. It was the highlight of finally being a sixth grader. We would go camping and be away from our parents and stay up late! It was exciting. We took a charter bus to Hume Lake and everyone got to go, even Greg. We all went to Hume Lake and each day we had assigned courses and hikes and different activities but everyone enjoyed...free time! We could do whatever we wanted. One of the days during free time I was socializing with some of the girls in my grade and I found out that there was going to be a fight. It was very exciting! I did not know what to think. I found out soon that it was going to be between Greg and Brian, and that Brian and his twin brother and all of their friends had planned to gang up on Greg. I was terribly upset. I found out where the fight was going to happen and I ran. I ran to break up the fight.

I got there in the nick of time. I jammed myself between them. I yelled "Stop!" I did not have an advanced vocabulary yet. the fight never happened, not because of my intervention but because of the counselors. However, my teachers, whom had labeled me trouble for my inability to turn in assignments assumed that I was a promoter of the fight. I was sent home early and suspended from school. I guess one could call this "Lessons in classism."

I learned that my beliefs and convictions were not very important and not very significant.

I eventually left Pacific Christian School, and instantaneously became a well rounded student in a better environment. Greg, made the switch to public school too and even though he was still teased, at one point he told me in high school that I was the one person that had ever stood up for him. I did not know that it was a significant moment in his life, or in mine, however we often do not realize what actions we do are significant until much later in life, when it almost seems like a tangential aside to tell friends over cocktails.

I learned overall that my convictions do matter, even if there is an unfitting punishment associated with those actions. To this day I believe in fighting for what is right for all people. A true millenial through and through. Who knew?