POPPING BUBBLES, PART II

Comment from Popping Bubbles, Part I:

tammi said...
Hmmmmm....I'll be interested to see where you're going with this.I remember hearing both of those stories when I was growing up - in Sunday school or at my Christian school, but I can't remember which one I heard first. Although the story that I heard about the little boy stopping on command had something to do with him almost being run over by a train, or something about being bitten by a crocodile - I'm not sure which - I can't really remember.I'm going to guess that you heard the drunk-driver story as a 3rd grader, considering that it's a little more simplistic in theme than than the story about the kid obeying his mother's command to stop. Actually, it's not really...so I don't really know.But that's my guess and I'm sticking to it.

Funny, this was the exact response I thought that I may receive--many people growing up in Christian homes/schools that had heard the same story, tweaked just a tad. The "tweaked" facts in this/these stories are of no relevance because it's the moral that is important to the narrator(s).

This is the moral of the "Bible-story lesson," as I remember it being communicated from the narrator(s):

Teacher: If the little boy had not obeyed his mother, what would have happened?

Children: The boy would have died.

Teacher: Yes! Most likely. That is why you should always obey, right when you are told.

Children (in head): If I don't obey, I could die.

Statistic: "A child's belief system (and worldview) is set by the age of only 13; after age 13, it is rare to change what one believes".

As I said, I was in first grade when told the story of the little boy and the venomous snake by my white-haired, small-framed, 60-something teacher. I was new to the school, having attended my neighborhood public school the year previous, of which I don't remember much but kissing a boy I liked on the cheek, playing in "centers," the happy, chatty, bouncing children with whom I rode the bus and my nice teacher hugging me occasionally (even though I cannot remember her face).

I also don't remember much about my first grade year--recess, my best friend and the thing that made me panic inside-messing up, i.e. : not sitting up straight enough in my chair, not folding my hands on my desk, not standing in a PERFECTLY straight line, being silent at lunch, not having my homework pad signed, forgetting my books and/or homework. Why would these childish behaviors make me panicky? Because if I didn't do these things, exactly perfect, day in and day out, I would be scolded in front of the whole class and to me, that was the worst thing that could happen.

I was painfully shy and I was an oldest child.

Being an oldest child, I was automatically predisposed to try to live up to everyone's expectations and make everyone happy and I didn't like confrontation. Being shy made my childhood even more difficult because if I was called out in class, it totally humiliated AND embarrassed me. I avoided confrontation and attention, at all costs. I realize now, it cost me alot.

So, in my little first grade, seven-year old head, I subconsciously decided that I HAD to be perfect. I obeyed. I did not question with my mouth, nor did my mind even think about questioning what I was told. I listened as intently as a child does, I took it all in as a child's mind does, and I believed it all, as a child does.

Tomorrow, I'll tell you how this affected my whole life.