I wish I knew how to put this all together in a foolproof system. I know I was far from the ideal teacher. Sometimes my anger and immaturity amazed me. But I have never been afraid to let a classroom or a student see my anger or my tears, which lets them know I am being honest with them and that I do not pretend to be superhuman or above making mistakes.

O CHILDREN OF MEN!

Know ye not why We created you all from the same dust?
That no one should exalt himself over the other.
Ponder at all times in your hearts how ye were created.
Since We have created you all from the same substance
it is incumbent on you to be even as one soul, to walk with the same feet,
eat with the same mouth and dwell in the same land,
that from your inmostbeing, by your deeds and actions,
the signs of oneness and the essence of detachment may be made manifest…
from The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh

My daughter Lori, in the days before I became ensconced at Greenfield-Central, brought home a paper written for Academic English 10 which had only one correction—“sentence fragment.” There was no sentence fragment. I wrote in the margin “Nominative absolute” and told her to show the paper to her teacher. His comment, after “Oh, it’s not, is it?” was that he had not deducted anything from her grade for that and left the grade a “B+”. I was probably foolish to let her English teacher know that her father was a grammarian. On her next paper there were no errors or helpful comments, only the explanation, “I’m sorry, I just can’t give you an “A” on this.” Am I wrong, or is there an educational weakness in that statement that would discourage a student and not give any hint of ways to improve?

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(I’m not sure why this comes next—it’s random thought, and memories that delight me come randomly.)

At Greenfield-Central, Charlie Pasco (now deceased), owner of Pasco’s Funeral Home, approached me after a play. His statement, “I want to thank you on behalf of the Greenfield community for giving us this strong, solid program to be proud of. I don’t think you realize that after a couple of years in which athletic teams failed to rise to prominence, people have begun to notice and feel pride about the successes you have given them.” (Words to that effect.)