The Power of Old Memories

I was digging around in my memory yesterday and remembered something that happened in the mid-1970s, when I was in the first grade.

My first grade classroom faced a patio and the door to the class opened up onto the patio. After lunch, those of us who had lunchboxes used to leave them outside, next to the door to the classroom, until after recess. I used to take a lunch in a red Tupperware lunchbox (I hated it) and my lunch would sometimes include one of those tiny boxes of raisins. I really loved raisins, so I used to eat my lunch and then save the raisins to eat later as a treat. 

One day, I went to get my raisins out of my lunchbox after recess and they were gone. Someone had stolen my box of raisins. I don't remember telling the teacher, Miss Sanders, but I must have because the next thing I know, we were all inside the classroom and she had found the culprit.

It was Tommy, some dumb, skinny kid with a lopsided smile.

Miss Sanders stood Tommy up in front of the entire class and told everyone what he had done and how it was wrong to steal. He was clearly embarrassed--he just stood there, with an uncertain half-smile on his stupid face--and, truthfully, I felt sorry for him and kind of disappointed in Miss Sanders for humiliating him over a box of raisins. I thought that what she was doing was almost worse than what he had done.

But did I really? I don't know if I thought that at the time or if that's what I think I thought then. Because if I think about what I felt at the time, I did feel sorry for him, but I was also glad that he was being punished for stealing my raisins. I also felt a bit scared of Miss Sanders, who, up until then, I had thought was entirely sweet and kindhearted.

What was the true lesson to her actions, do you think?

My story is nothing compared to one that I read this morning on a blog I subscribe to called Passage des Perles. The woman who writes the blog wrote about one of her elementary school mates, who she calls J.P. The story had me sobbing at 7:30 in the morning, but it should be required reading for anyone who considers themselves a human being.