January 9th, 2009
If any of you have sen my Squidoo page, then you have already read this story, but I wanted to share it with everyone, soooooo……………………………
First Day of School
Alright, before I start, I have to explain a couple of things. First of all I grew up in the south, actually in Southeast Arkansas, during the 70’s. My Dad was a Baptist preacher. I had never even met an African- American in person, although I had seen some in my trips to town. Yes, I was really in the boonies. And my whole life up to this point I had only heard them referred to as the “N” word. With all that being said, please don’t judge me on this story. I was, as you will be able to tell, always a little different than my ignorant surroundings. So, with all that being said, I present my first day in kindergarten…….
So I got to school on my first day and in my small kindergarten class there were about 15 students. Only one of them, because of where we lived, was black. I still remember him like it was yesterday even though it was over 30 years ago. His name was Dell, he was funny, always smiling, and we hit it off immediately. We played together at recess, ate lunch together, and even attempted to take our naps right next to each other. Well, after nap-time, we were given our first real assignment.
See, I was really excited. My Mamaw was a kindergarten teacher in another town, and my mom was a stay-at-home mother, who was also a good teacher. So, by the time I had started kindergarten, I was already reading on a 3rd grade level, and could write pretty well as well. This was my chance to really show off to the teacher who still had no idea about my talents.
She handed out a picture for us to color. It was a picture of a boy playing with some toys. I was going to color the bestest picture ever. In honor of my new friend I decided to color the boy black. Actually, I decided to use brown to make it more authentic. I really took my time and colored in the lines,and when I was finished I was really proud of my masterpiece.But even in my 5 year old mind, I realized that coloring the boy brown may not be acceptable, so I felt it needed an explanation. Lucky for me I could write, and it would give me an excuse to show off my writing skills. Soooo, on the top of the paper I wrote ” I LIKE NI!@#$” (yes the “N” word). I really didn’t know any better. But that’s not the bad part….. I spelled the “N” word correctly, but I spelled “LIKE” L-I-C-K. Yes, on my first day of school, I let it be known, that I licked African-Americans.
To make matters worse, I got a FROWNY-FACE on my first school project. I cried in class. My teacher told my father. My father whooped the crap outta me when I got home (with a belt, mind you). I was made to apologize to Dell. And all this just for trying to be a good dude.
AND THAT WRAPS UP MY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!
January 9th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
How funny. You poor little kid! It could have been worse - it could have been your first day in high school - YIKES!
January 10th, 2009 at 12:49 am
Or first day in the Navy. OOOOOH, that reminds me of my next story. First day of Boot-camp, coming soon!