A to Z Theme 2016

For my 2016 A to Z theme I used a meme that I ran across on the blog of Bridget Straub who first saw it on the blog of Paula Acton. This meme is a natural for me to use on my memoir blog. It's an A to Z concept and it's about me. No research and nothing complicated. I'm given twenty six questions or topics to discuss that are about me.

In April I kept my posts short and uncomplicated. In the midst of it all you might learn a few things about me that you didn't previously know.

Saturday, May 23, 2015

Betty Rose and Minnie (Part Two)

 
   
         This is the second part of a story that I began in my previous post.  If you missed part one then you might want to go back to read that before continuing on with today's post.   This story about cruelty and bullying was inspired by a post that originally appeared at Robin's Your Daily Dose blog.

          While Betty Rose was generally considered to be the ugliest girl in school, Minnie might have been the fattest.  The name Minnie was actually her birth name rather than some descriptive moniker bestowed upon her by other classmates as was the case of one of the bigger boys who had been known as "Tiny" for as long as anyone could remember.  Tiny wasn't so much fat as he was really big and he good-naturedly accepted this given name as his mark of distinction that set him apart from the other boys.

          Minnie also seemed pleased with her name and appeared to carry her sizable frame with a sense of pride.  She had a pleasant demeanor with a continually cheerful countenance.   Some might have said she had  a "pretty face" though it was decidedly a very round face tinged with a rosy hue in cheeks that looked as though they could have been storing food for later in the day.

          Perhaps it was Minnie's obesity that attracted the small cadre of homely girls who gathered around her.  They might have been long time friends from grade school or maybe the neighborhood where they lived.  Rumor had it that they all came from the Five Points area at the bottom of the hill where the school was located.   I knew where the intersection known as Five Points was, but I was always somewhat unclear as to what exactly comprised the Five Points neighborhood.  To my understanding Five Points was one of the "bad neighborhoods" like Parham Hill or Home Avenue.  Those were the places were the lower class folks lived--the tougher rougher kids who were of low reputation and were undoubtedly headed for bad futures.

         At least that's what some people said.  I didn't know for sure where any of those girls came from or what kind of families they had.  For that matter I didn't know anything about any of them including most of their names.  And now after so many years the only names I remember are Minnie and Betty Rose.

        Each morning as I bided my time with my group of acquaintances, I would see that group of female outcasts on the opposite side of the auditorium on the front row near the stage gathered as though plotting their revenge on the mean students.  Or maybe they were just gossiping, commiserating, or dreaming about a better life away from the school society that had seemed to be rejecting them.  On the whole they didn't appear to be too displeased about their lives or their situations.  More than likely I was reading my own interpretations based on what I imagined about those girls.

          Sometimes, drawing the attention of everyone in the auditorium, Minnie would burst out into a fit of gleeful laughter evoking titters from the assemblage around her.  I almost envied them because they seemed so happy.   Happy about something.  Or amused.   Maybe they were laughing at the rest of us.  None of us knew because none of us associated with those girls.

           In fact, once the school day started I don't recall ever seeing Minnie for the remainder of the day.  Sometimes I might see Betty Rose passing alone through the hallways, ignoring the mean comments from the boys she passed.  She was like a silent specter disappearing into the crowds between classes.   In the mornings she seemed to be a part of a group, but the rest of the day she appeared to be on her own without a friend anywhere.

         Those girls were all in grades below me so that might have been one reason I never encountered any of them during the course of the school day.  Then again, maybe they passed or were there in plain sight and I didn't see them.  After all these were not the in-crowd girls or even the girls that any of us might want to get to know.   I would have never said anything mean to any of them, but there were the students that didn't think twice about hurling insults or making what they thought were funny remarks to show off in front of the other students.  For my part, Betty Rose, Minnie, and all of their circle of friends were the morning crew who for the rest of the day were people I tried not to think about.

         After I graduated, at the end of the following year,  my sister, who was in the grade below me--the same one as Betty Rose and Minnie--brought home the graduation edition of the school paper.   The tradition for this edition was for the departing seniors to publish their "wills" to the incoming seniors of the year to come.  Each graduating senior would will some funny item, give some words of advice, or have some bit of wisdom to offer to the those who would be the next crop of seniors.

            As I perused those words of the graduating class members I came to what Betty Rose had to say.   After so many years I cannot recall her exact words, but she said something to this effect:
"My wish is for all students to have consideration for each other and not to say hurtful things."
I'm pretty sure she worded it more eloquently, but whatever her words were, my heart stopped for a moment and tears came to my eyes.

         How much meanness had she patiently had to endure in her years of high school?   What kind of life had she faced?   I thought of Minnie and her cheerfulness on the outside.  What kind of pain had she felt?   Those other girls who I now don't remember.   They were all part of the club of exiles, rejected by peers, but clinging together in whatever it was they had in common.  What had happened to all of them?

         Some forty years later I got a copy of a school alumni directory. This is one of those directories where the compilers make an attempt to contact every alumnus of the school to collect data about their spouse, number of kids, occupation, and so on.  Having lost touch after so many years I was curious about those with whom I had attended high school.   I guess a good many others were equally curious.

          After I received my directory in the mail, I spent a good bit of time looking up those folks from my past to see where they were now and how their lives compared to mine.  When I came to Minnie's name there was no indication that she had ever been married or had any children.  She still lived in the area and for occupation the listing indicated that she was a care provider for the elderly.

          Betty Rose was not listed in the main part of the directory.   Looking in the index where all students were listed by graduation year I found Betty Rose's name listed.  She was among those few designated as "Address Unconfirmed".   This meant that she had either not filled out the information request that had been sent to her or she had never received one.

          Another pang of sadness welled within me.   Had high school been so painful for her that she had tried to run away or forget it after so many years?   What had happened to her after graduation and had the experience of high school scarred her in later life?   I suppose I'll never know.   I don't know if anyone else cares whether they know or not.    Betty Rose might even prefer that no one ever knows what happened to her.   I hope things turned out well for her.

         Do you remember any of the outcast students in your school?   Do you know what happened to any of those students?    Did you ever befriend any students who were treated poorly by others?  

18 comments:

  1. Well I always felt like one of the outcasts which is why I left for the west coast to get as far away from my hometown as possible. My goal was to life an exciting life (which I did) as kind of a 'F-you, I got out of that horrible town and am having fantastic experiences while all of you are still stuck there. HA HA'. I tried to befriend students that were treated poorly by others, but it seemed that those kids were already transient. Moved to town, attended for a year or two and moved on (there is a military base on Cape Cod).

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    1. JoJo, some kids are mysteries I suppose, coming from backgrounds we know nothing about and disappearing into life without a further word to anyone. Now having talked to some of the students I have run into in later years, I think the feeling of being an outcast was more prevalent than it might have seemed while in school. High school is probably a time of loneliness and alienation for a good many students.

      Lee

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  2. I enjoyed my high school years as I worked on the school newspaper, was an honor student, and had a circle of good friends. We were a mixed group, but there were no mean girls in it. Some were pretty, some were not. Yes I did befriend those who I saw others reject. I've always disliked snobbery, or cliques. Because of my art background I was asked to help decorate for dances, etc. But I didn't like the majority of the kids that much, and afterwards,never looked any of them up. I was eager to leave my hometown, I was not fond of it, and going to college was one step towards going to the west coast. I did miss some of my family, but the bird has to leave the nest sometimes. . .

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    1. DG, some of the other students probably thought I was a snob because I stayed to myself. I should have gotten more involved in activities like the school newspaper, but I didn't do much of anything.

      I miss my family and their are a number of friends back in Tennessee whom I miss, but very few of those were people with whom I went to high school.

      Lee

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  3. In my age group, Facebook has become more reliable than a high school directory. A lot of people no longer live in my hometown (in fact, none of my close friends from high school remained). My brother still lives in the area, but not in the town.

    HS life may have been hard for those girls, but at least they had each other. It's always a little bit easier when you don't have to go it alone.

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    1. Robin, I think they still publish the directories every few years, but now Facebook has become more of a go to place for old classmates as it is in your case. I'd say at least 75% of the people I went to school with still live in that area, but I doubt whether many of they associate regularly with each other. Last few attempts at reunion meetings apparently ended up with low turnouts. I would have gone if I didn't live so far away.

      Those girls may have had each other out of a sort of necessity of desperation. I wonder if any of them remained friends after high school.

      Lee

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  4. I felt a lump in my throat reading this.

    I did not go to the more prominent high school in my county. At that school, they had a huge popular group which was the affluent students and the larger group who were the nobodies.

    The group of affluent students at my school was smaller and the nobodies were not as beat down. Plus, I think the principal had something to do with our school not acquiring that powerful clique.

    None the less, the harshness people have to face makes me humble. I feel so ashamed that some legislators want to pass laws that food stamps cannot be used to purchase spaghetti sauce and other cruel measures.

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    1. Ann, when the social divide is made obvious then the cliques are in all probability going to form. I think it's natural to gravitate towards those who are most like us since we feel more comfortable with those people. But the cruelty should be squashed in every way conceivable.

      Lee

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  5. I know that for those I went to high school with, some of those that were more or less outcasts have had successful lives. Some drugged or drank their lives away. One committed murder. But then, it was sort of the same assortment for what was once the popular crowd, the jock crowd, the roper (cowboy) crowd. Even the intellectual crowd found both successes and heartaches.

    The truth is, once you graduate high school, the playing field is actually even again, in most every way except perhaps educational opportunities. I think what matters most is whether the carry the past hurts with them into that future or not. Or conversely, if they try to rest on the awards on accolades of high school instead of setting and seeking new goals. Twenty, thirty, forty years down the road high school is nothing more than old stories when friends gather and recall "glory days".
    Life & Faith in Caneyhead.

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    1. Barbara, the post high school days are like you describe. Though from much of what I've seen about those whose lives I know about, most everyone retained a part of who they were in high school and their lives have reflected that. It's ultimately up to each individual how they choose to look at their own lives and what they try to do with those lives.

      Lee

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  6. This was well written, LEE. It was sad to read but simultaneously a pleasure to read. I guess "bittersweet" is the word, Bird.

    Do you remember any of the outcast students in your school?

    Sure. In fact, in some ways, I was one of them, even though I was involved in athletics which is usually where you find much of the "cool crowd".

    Do you know what happened to any of those students?

    Some of them. One went on to become a rebellious blogger with a snarky sense o' humor. :-)

    Did you ever befriend any students who were treated poorly by others?

    Yeah, I was always one who rooted for the underdog. There was one kid who obviously had some mental issues and a lot of the kids took advantage of that in junior high school. I always tried to be as nice as I could to him because I felt for him and didn't want him to think EVERYONE thought less of him and made fun of him. He'd sometimes ramble on and on about things only he cared about, but I always tried to pay attention and act interested in what he had to say.

    ~ Stephen

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  7. STMcC, thanks for the compliment. It's funny to talk to some people now who I thought were "cool" back in high school and find that they were as unsure about themselves as I felt. I've even had some of them tell me that they thought I was one of the cooler guys. I was nice to everyone in school, but I basically kept my distance from most of them.

    Lee

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  8. That's surprising since you seem so outgoing today.

    Of course, I guess the same would be said of me. Aside from my best friend Eric, I was probably the shyest person anyone knew. What has happened, even I can't quite understand, but somehow I found myself over the decades.

    I also found out many years later that a number of the girls were attracted to me, but I was so withdrawn that I was oblivious. I'm still pretty oblivious, actually, but just not withdrawn anymore.

    So, have you gotten your fill of buttermilk? I'm still on my buttermilk kick but wish I could get Knudsen's here. Is that the brand you drink? Or some other?

    ~ D-FensDogG

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    1. STMcC, I got another quart of Knudsen's (that's the only brand Ralph's seems to carry) this past week. I might get more this week. It makes for a couple of days lunch for me with some snack food. Maybe not the most healthy thing for me, but it's easy to fix and tasty to consume.

      I probably appear more outgoing on my blog than I am in person. I still tend to be rather reclusive, but not overly shy like I used to be. My years on my own with the traveling stage companies got me out of my shell to a great extent. Also my 18 years managing the costume warehouse meant that I had to deal with a lot of customers, vendors, and employees so I had to appear pretty outgoing for all that.

      Yeah, and I'm oblivious too. I said that to my sisters last summer and they took hold of that description to the point I wish I had never said it. Now especially my sister who is slightly younger than I loves laying that "oblivious" label on me. She actually misunderstood what I was actually saying and likes to apply the term as though I were an idiot or something. Now I get a little annoyed by her saying it, but I stay good-natured and continue to laugh about it.

      Lee

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  9. I loved my time at high school for only one reason - I loved to learn. I was definitely not one of the in-crowd. Indeed, I was ignored by most of them, and didn't even get much in the way of derogatory remarks. I isolated myself in my work and, because I was the first in my family and those of my parents and grandparents to have the opportunity to complete high school, I was determined to make a good go of it. I became a teacher and ended up principal of a small remote area school.

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    1. Wangiwriter, it's up to each of us to make what we can of situations and it sounds like you took the write path.

      Lee

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  10. How well I remember the disheveled waif whose shoes never fit and the undisguised torture in tear-filled eyes when kids laughingly asked if her mother shopped at the Salvation Army Store. While anger seemed to soothe the pain of exclusion at first; it was a façade that soon crumbled into sour bits of abandoned faith. She dropped off the radar in early high school and went on to do quite well in her life and for herself and never looked back. Until today. No, it’s never okay to ridicule and you can believe my own kids know it. :-) By the way, I never replied to reunion requests either...

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    1. Diedre, it's good to hear when the story turns out well. It's sad to know that it ever had to be a bad story. I went to my 25th reunion and it was somewhat eye-opening. Haven't gone to another since. In 4 years we will have our 50th reunion. That is weird to contemplate.

      Lee

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Arlee Bird