July 05, 2005 - Learning

My fifth grade teacher once told me something very important. She taught me how to not be what others perceived.

When she asked me why I didn't do my homework, I told her what I thought was the truth. Through my fourth grade year, my teacher had asked me, "Why are you so lazy?" and said, "I don't know what to do with you. You're just lazy." Over that year, I internalized that reality.

"I don't know," I said. "I guess I'm just lazy."

She changed. She grew six inches, flared her nostrils, and shouted as she brought a ruler down a scant two inches from my fingers, "Never, ever say that again."

I was convinced, in that moment, that nothing anyone ever said about me or did to me would ever matter unless I let it.

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