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If I Can Do It, So Can You!
When I started school, I did not know what was expected of me, so I would sit at my desk and cry, or chew on a pencil, an eraser, a ruler, or a crayon. I was what someone once called a "crayon eater." In other words, I began school not "understanding the rules." But whose rules? Do you need rules to become an artist, a musician, a writer? On my first day of school, not understanding what the teacher expected of me, I just cried, and ate the chalk. Then, as I proceeded to the higher grades, I still did not understand what it was that my "betters" required of me... In the second grade the teacher shook me because I didn't understand how to add. Well, let me tell you, Mrs. White, since becoming an adult, I have worked as a bookkeeper; and even now, as a senior, I do people's income tax.... In the fourth grade I was told I read too slowly. Too slowly for what? Did it matter Mrs. Robinson? I still can tell you exactly what grade I was in, and where I was sitting in class, when a certain piece of knowledge entered my brain. Slow to get there? Perhaps, but the knowledge was permanent. It was in the seventh grade that the teacher told me I gave up too easily, and would never amount to anything. Thanks Mr. McKenzie! But because of a supportive husband, who will never let me give up, I have been able to prove you wrong... My grade eight teacher flung my book across the floor, after reading one of my GOOD stories, telling me that I must have cheated. That couldn't have been MY story. I wasn't bright enough to compose anything that intelligent. Well, Mrs. Jordan. If you were living, and I could find you, I would tell you that you were wrong. I have not only composed many stories, but I have written a book, and I write poetry on a regular basis. In the tenth grade my typing teacher told me I would never make a typist. Wrong again. Not only have I worked as a secretary, I am typing now. Where are you, Mrs.Yand? In heaven, I hope. I could go on, but the point of this essay is not to tell the world about my accomplishments: they are few. It is to encourage anyone reading this that YOU CAN DO IT. Don't let anyone discourage you from fulfilling your dreams. |
