I was in a one-room schoolhouse in first and second grade. One day, in second grade, the teacher had a reading class at the fifth grade level. The fifth-graders stood on the stage and read their lesson aloud for the teacher, Miss Stauffer. Everything was going smoothly until Alvin's turn came. He kept stumbling over the words. The teacher was sitting at the back of the room in one of the student desks and she exclaimed, "Alvin, you're doing very poorly today," and looking over toward the second grade row, she said, "Even a second grader could read what you're stumbling over." Everyone in the room was at attention, and Miss Stauffer singled me out, "Wesley, come here and read this sentence for Alvin."
Fleetingly, I had in mind to sabotage the teacher's efforts. I was small for my age, and Alvin was the tallest in the whole schoolroom, but I meekly walked over and read the sentence...and paid for it at recess. Well, being called a Teacher's Pet isn't the worst that could happen so I didn't fare too badly.
That night I dreamed that Alvin and I were out on the school porch and he was trying the hardest to talk but couldn't. He struggled with it until his throat literally blew out, and then I woke up. It was quite a nightmarish dream to have for an eight-year-old but I remembered it years later when I met his sister Dora at a reunion. I described the incident, and the dream in our conversation.
She had a perturbed look on her face as she opined that the teacher was out of place to treat a student like that, and then described what her brother had to deal with. Alvin was a stutterer and he was rather slow at home and his father was not very kind to him. Finally at the age of 20 Alvin had a nervous breakdown and had to be treated for mental illness.
I was disturbed from hearing that and I later cried for Alvin while thinking about it. He did not deserve the treatment that his sister described to me. He needed to have a reprieve from his difficulties somehow. But what was done was done, and one cannot change the past, can one?
A few months later I talked to Dora on the telephone, and she explained further some of her previous family situations. In course of conversation, it was suggested I could call Alvin, just to talk--to help him to feel better perhaps. She gave me his phone number.
It was months later, after thinking about Alvin once in awhile, that I decided to give him a call. I didn't know if he would remember me, but I thought I'd give it a try anyway. What can one lose? And maybe one could gain a friend.
It was Sunday afternoon and I called. His wife answered and I told her who I was...a former classmate of Alvin's. I didn't know if he would remember me. He came to the phone and we started talking, and he did remember me. In fact, he said he contacted a number of classmates to apologize for his behavior during the school years. Apparently, he was a bit of a bully and after all these years wanted to institute redress for what he perceived to be being mean toward his classmates. He told me he wanted to contact me and my brother but didn't know where to find us.
I told him, "Alvin, I don't remember you ever being mean to me." There was silence and then he said, almost crying, "Wesley, you're such a great encourager." Then I almost cried. I'm emotional too, you know. We had a nice conversation and then promised to keep in touch.
Just today, after several months, I called him again and we had a 20-minute conversation. He was glad I called. I feel spiritually obligated to stay in touch with him. He needs our prayers. And I need his.
We need to stay in touch with the spiritual side of ourselves because that is the eternal part of us. Get as much straightened as you can, and then there will be nothing to make retribution for. People helping people is a spiritual mandate for peace and contentment--our salvation. We can only do as occasion serves and we will be blessed for it. We do it out of love, for love is of God.
I John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. I didn't say it, the writer of I John did, but we all could say that, if we understand it. Charity toward one another will take us far.
The names in this story have been mostly changed, out of respect for the situation. On a certain level, the past can be changed, when it is revisited in mind, and allowed to gain a new and broader perspective, coupled with forgiveness.
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