Pink With Purple Polka Dots

Say WHAT???

There are several laws of human decency, and we as a society need to revisit what it means to be a decent human being. If the leaders of our nations, politicians, and leaders in business can’t act as model human beings, we as the general populace MUST become model human beings for our children so they can learn human decency.

I was raised in a household where the laws of human decency were modeled, and from the models, I learned. But it wasn’t just at home, it was in the homes of my extended family and friends, it was at church, it was when I was out in public at stores and restaurants.

I brought that training with me when I ventured into a teaching career. But at work, in the classroom as well as in the district, I was confronted with people who had no idea of what it meant to be a decent human being.

Once a week, if not once a day, I was confronted by at least one person in the following type of interaction.

“Anthony, would you turn around in your desk and get back to work?”

“You just don’t like me because I’m ___.”

(Fill in the blank with Black, Asian, Mexican, Hispanic — or any other choice.)

That’s right. It was the “It’s not me, it’s you” attitude that many of my students hurled at me and other teachers, daily.

One day, one ordinary day, I don’t know what went on in my mind, but I had heard the comeback one too many times. The words just came streaming out of my mouth:

“I don’t care if you were pink with purple polka dots, I will not tolerate your disruptive behavior.”

The student looked at me, stunned. The class giggled under their breath. Had the teacher just said what they thought she said?

Yup, I had.

I went on that day to explain that my rules had nothing to do with my students’ color, nationality, gender, or even ability, but they had everything to do with being a descent and considerate human being.

Let me back up a bit.

In upper elementary school, I remember when the first African-American students moved into the neighborhood and enrolled in my school. To me they were just people.

During my senior year of high school, my dance partner in the musical Oklahoma was African-American.

I attended college in a small Chicago suburb community (Evanston) in the late 1970. Better than 80% of the student body was female and better than 50% was African-American.

I landed my first teaching job with the Creative and Performing Arts program housed in one of the west-side junior high schools located in a “not-so-good” area of town. (Yes, you can read that to be an area of town where the population was mostly African-American and mostly on welfare.)

My second teaching job found me in a rural district where a large percentage of Hispanic students, some barely speaking English. I remember some of my co-workers having difficulty accepting some of the cultural differences.

When I returned to teach and direct high school theater in my hometown, I was asked by the principal if I casted shows color blind. It was something I had never given much thought. “I generally cast the person who voice best fits the part and whose acting skills are developed enough to portray the part.”

I rarely use race or nationality to describe people.

I upset a principal because I couldn’t add the race of the student we were discussing.

I frustrated my husband one evening. I was running late and the person in charge of props for the show I was working on was coming over. He asked for a description. Later, after she left, he asked me why I hadn’t included African-American in my description. Why? It didn’t really matter to me.

I am not naive to the plight of minorities. No matter what minority you belong to. you have your struggles.

BUT,

I truly believe that we are all human beings. That what really matters is how we behave and how we treat each other.

Strip us of our colorful skin tones, our nationalities, and our gender; and we are just all part of the human race. It is, however, our skin tones, nationality, and gender that makes each one of us unique.

It doesn’t matter what we look like; the laws of human decency apply to all.

The Most Important Laws of Human Decency

1. Treat others with respect and dignity. In other words, follow the Golden Rule: Treat others the way you want to be treated if you were in the same situation.
2. Treat what you own with respect. My children learned that if they destroyed a toy by playing with it in ways that weren’t intended, it would not be replaced. They also learned that if their friends were over and they allowed their friend to destroy a toy, it would not be replaced.
3. Treat what other people own with respect. I shouldn’t have had to say it in my classroom rules, but year after year I found I needed to tell my high school students that it was not acceptable to just take something off someone else’s desk, even a pencil. Ask if you can borrow the item or if the other student had one that could be borrowed.
4. Behave with integrity. In — teg . . . In other words, be honest and have some moral principles.
5. Stand up for others who can’t stand up for themselves. In terms of being the voice for someone who can’t bring themselves to say what they want to say. In terms of standing up to others who are acting as bullies.
6. See people for who they are and ignore the skin color, the nationality, the gender, or the gender identity. We are all human beings. We need to live blindly as to the surface of the individual.

I see it this way.

I have owned four dogs in my lifetime. I have taken them for walks and taken them to romp in dog parks around the city.

Although I now have a pointer/black lab mix and a plot hound mix, I previously owned a non-descript mutt and later a border collie mix.

I didn’t choose my dog because of the breed. I didn’t care if the dog was long or short haired. I didn’t care if the dog was brown, white, black, gray. or a mix. I didn’t choose my dog because of its gender. To me a dog is a dog is a dog.

I think many people believe this about dogs. Why, then, do people change that attitude when looking at other people?

Change the italics above and you get:

I don’t choose my friends because of their nationality. I don’t care what your race is. I will not put you down because of your gender, gender identification, or abilities.

A person is a person is a person. We need to start treating people (read that EVERYONE) with human decency.

Rebecca (Becky) spent 34 years in a teaching career, but when she retired in 2014, she picked up her pen and pursued her passion to write. As a high school English teacher, Becky held the philosophy that she wouldn’t give any writing assignment that she personally wouldn’t or couldn’t do. That philosophy strengthened and broadened her own writing.

In addition to publishing her writing on various platforms, Becky also blogs at Life is for Living, a blog to encourage, motivate, and help others live the best life possible. As an extension of Life is for Living, she also publishes a weekly newsletter, Let’s Chat. (Check it out HERE.) Life is for Living also has a social media presence with the group Coffee on my Porch. (Check it out HERE.)

After teaching writing for 34 years, Becky began Ink & Keyboard, a blog for writers at all levels. She supplements what she writes on the blog with a subscription newsletter, The Writer’s Notebook (Check it out HERE.) and the social media group Ink & Keyboard (Check it out HERE.)

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