101 People - Mrs. Wessel
Mrs. Wessel is not the first person to come to mind when I think about the 101 people who have influenced me the most. To be sure, she had an influence on me, and she did have an early influence.
I am surprised I remember her name.
It was one of my earliest childhood memories. I was 5- going on 6-years old. I was born in September. The small parochial school gave my parents the option of sending me to school when I was 5 or waiting a year till I was 6. I would either be the youngest kid in my school classes, or the oldest. My parents made me the youngest.
It might have been the first day of school. I didn’t know anything, which is why we go to school, I suppose. Seeing 5- and 6-year olds now, I know why. Some kids going to school have no idea how it is they are moving about. Look down! They are called legs.
Some kids wonder how things get from the table to their mouths. Yeah, those things coming out your side are attached. They are called arms.
I had a question. I raised my hand, remembering I saw that on TV, Leave it to Beaver, maybe.
Not knowing what to do after that I shouted out, “Teacher!”
Nothing.
“Teacher!”
“You talking to me? Don’t you think I have a name? What’d you like me to call you? Boy? Student? My name is Mrs. Wessel. You can call me that if you want to address me.”
Did it scare me?
You bet.
Could she have been nicer?
I don’t know, but I wasn’t about to ask her to give it a try.
Tell my parents that my self image was destroyed and that they should take their part in getting her removed from the premises?
Huh!?
Nah, I learned right off that people have names. And, they like it when you use their names when talking to them. Gosh, I like when people call me Bill instead of the many other things I have been called.
Thank you, Mrs. Wessel for teaching me to respect people early on. I still address people this way, a half century later, unless they tell me otherwise.
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment