Different…I am reminded of a poster which hung in my classrooms over the years. It had one pair of footprints facing another set of three footprints. The caption stated, “I like you. You’re different!”
I have found this word to be an apt description of me. This blog caused me to really think over my life, and I conclude that I have been and am “different.” We’ve always heard that gifted students march to a different drummer, but sometimes it may be the circumstances which place a person in that category of being different. So it was with me.
When I was placed in the Gifted Program in the fifth grade, I was taken from my neighborhood school and placed in a school attended by higher economic families. When a child grows up in a poor home, usually he/she is not aware of how poor he/she is. After all, neighbors are usually of the same social class. However, when one is moved to another school in a higher social status, it becomes very evident that one is “different.” One of my nightmarish memories was of a Halloween party at the new school. All my classmates had commercial costumes they wore to school, while I wore a hand-made (poorly made I might add) fifth grader’s version of a bullfighter’s costume. I chose this because I found the strips of cloth and the sequins in my mother’s scraps. I cringe every time I think of that day!
My high school gifted class was in the richest school in the area. Again, I found myself being different from my peers. I refused to let my mother drive me to school on rainy days because I didn’t want anyone to see our old, rusted-out Ford. When she did persist, I made her let me out a block away from the school. When I graduated and went on to get college degrees, I found myself being “different” from my extended family members. I was the first in our family to do such a thing!
My life continued to be filled with times of being “different.” This was obvious when I became a superintendent and was called to state department meetings. The male superintendents always took the front seats (usually executive chairs) and left the back row for women. However, I soon learned that my feminine side gained me help and kindness from the true gentlemen. My husband said it sure didn’thurt in a “mostly male dominated career.”
As an administrator, I was again “different.” I went into education to teach children. So, I chose to do my administrative work before and after school hours and during the late hours of night. I taught a full day of classes in between. I must admit that when I heard other administrators gripe about how busy they were attending Rotary Club, etc., I had no pity for them.
If I summed up some of the absurdities of being “different,” I would mention that I liked opera and classical music while my family loved country music. I enjoyed ballet while they enjoyed square dance. And today, I love old fashioned communication…and I detest dependence upon technology. So, I guess I will go to my grave being… “different!”
- Kay