I was the typical young male. I took risks and behaved in various rebellious manners.
In school if there was work I didn't want to do I could become as devious as possible to get out of it until my Dad caught me and that ended the nonsense. In literature we took the play Abraham Lincoln. I'd read a couple of biographies on Lincoln and I liked him. I didn't like the play. Worse than that, each day the teacher wrote 4 or 5 questions on the chalk board so we were supposed to read a section and then answer the questions. I copied the questions down and didn't answer them. My buddies laughed and were always watching to see if I got caught.
There were 25 kids in my high school from gr. 10 to 12 with one teacher for all courses.. You bet the teacher was busy. One day he had a few minutes and was going to check our "questions". The boys really got excited as they thought, "Red's going to get caught this time." Well I was next in line when the bell went so my book wasn't checked. The guys laughed harder that ever and I thought I was a super hero. I couldn't see any further ahead than than answering the questions.
My brother took the same course then next year. He tried to do the assignments but had trouble with them. He knew my books were still in the house so he thought, "I'll just copy Red's answers." He was surprised to find that not one question had been answered.
So I got away without doing the assignments on the play Abraham Lincoln or so I thought.
A few years later I found myself in first year college English. Guess what? I wasn't prepared for it. In fact, I failed the course. There was more to it than not doing assignments. I was never assigned an essay all through high school. I was not taught how to write an opinion piece and support my position. I was not assigned a persuasion paper. I was completely unprepared for college English. I had to do some hard work, get some tutoring and do the course twice in order to pass it.
So did I get away with anything? I think not.
How about you? Did you do things that you really got away with or did you pay the price sooner or later.
As adults , are there things that we don't do but cost us in other ways?
darn, it caught up to you! nothing comes to mind right now except letting myself get out of shape for a lot of years - and now i'm having to fight my way back to better conditioning. :)
ReplyDeleteGood luck on the reconditioning.
DeleteWell I thought I did but many years later - like 40 odd, I had to have xrays for my back problems, and what came up was about 4 broken ribs that had fixed themselves in time. I was about 10 when this happened.
ReplyDeleteI was allowed to ride bareback on my horse, but riding in the creek (mostly dry) and jumping over old logs was NOT. On this particular early morning ride Twilight and I went over the logs. Twilight was in one of her moods and after a couple of logs successfully jumped, she had had enough. She baulked, I flew over her head and the log. Then she decided to follow and thankfully gently landed with one hoof on my ribs. When I came to in the dirty shallow pond, there she was looking at me. Somehow I got back on and slowly rode home.
Let her loose and managed to get into bed. Somehow I convinced my mother I was very sick, so was allowed to stay put. When I did get up in great agony, I discovered Twilight had left me with a lovely hoof mark. For ages I hid the hoof mark from sight of all until it disappeared.
That was the end of the log jumping in the creek beds.
I certainly NEVER knew that I had cracked ribs - funny how a much later x-ray can reveal a "little unpermitted" act. Thank God horses can't talk!
Colin
The calcium build up over the break will show up..How many of us have done the same thing and sort of got away with it?
DeleteSome of us are lucky I suppose. My father thankfully was in Sydney when this happened, I don't think my feigned sudden illness would have convinced him!
DeleteAh the joys of the 50's playing "Cowboys and Indians" as shown on the then movies!
Kids were kids in those days - no TV etc., just the picture show Sitcoms of today, like serials- not to be missed until the next show - the Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy's and the magical fellow with the mask and his trusted Indian, Tonto - the Lone Ranger?
It was fun, wasn't it? Too bad if you fell off your horse, you maybe broke an arm (very rare, just the ignominy of horse and you parting company) - and the excitement of having something written on the plaster!
I loved every moment of it.
Cheers
Colin
PS: Tried to rain this morning - middle of winter and for you almost tropical! I wish it would rain, so badly needed.
Procrastination should be a sin. It never solves anything
ReplyDeleteWhich reminds me.........................
I certainly have this sin too!
DeleteI guess the message here is that in the long run we only cheat ourselves.
ReplyDeleteYou've got that right. Ho come it takes us so long to learn it?
DeleteI was a bit of a scaredy cat so never really attempted anything too challenging in terms of cheating. I also loved school and the assignments. Other than sneaking chocolate from the cupboard, that was all.
ReplyDeleteSome where along the way you were instilled with the proper attitude.
DeleteFollowed my Mother's advice - do all your homework - she KNEW if you didn't and we never wanted to go there. So, darn, it caught up to you and I'll bet you told this story to your students at some point or other. Great Post.
ReplyDeleteIt's a story I never told the kids. Some how or other my folks just couldn't quite get it together to check on my home work.
DeleteSo many times Red so little time to share:) B
ReplyDeleteI hear some stories here!
DeleteI read novels (library) books everyday in English Class...didn't learn a thing and survived with C's. I probably should have paid more attention in the Composition part:)
ReplyDeleteI preferred reading to anything else, but stuff I picked to read.
DeleteAs a fellow retired teacher, you're singing my song. Nothing pleased me more than when former students would come to visit me after they'd entered college and tell me they were finding the requirements in their English courses easy while their roommate was struggling.
ReplyDeleteI always appreciate running into former students. I taught middle school so they weren't as directly connected to college but they were eager to admit to improper behavior and wanted to apologize for it.
DeleteWhen I started out as an illustrator I had no published pieces to put into a portfolio. I ended up cutting pictures out of magazines and telling clients I did them. Of course I picked pieces I thought I could replicate. I never did get caught and I did finally replace those pictures in my portfolio with work of my own, but sometimes I feel bad about it.
ReplyDeleteI think we all have things we regret but can't go back and make amends so carry on and don't let it beat you up.
DeleteWhat memories this brings back My sister was three grades ahead of me. She made straight A's, was in the Beta Club. I barely got by. I day dreamed in class. In 9th grade I got the same literature teacher she had. I cheated and handed in a book report on Paradise Lost that my sister had read and written. The teacher immediately knew. She remembered my sister, the book worm...the smart one. I did learn a lesson.
ReplyDeleteThat's an uncanny catch. I caught a 14 year old boy who got his mother to write his poetry for him. The writing of a 40 year old woman is not remotely like a 14 year old boy.
DeleteI could write a book about the things I got away with! I was quite a rebellious teenager. And I never got caught...thank goodness... Minor things, but still...
ReplyDeleteI did so much that the law of averages cut in and I got caught quite often.
DeleteYou are a hoot. I love your stories. I loved school, always did my work, my mom typed all of my essays for me, correcting spelling as she typed.The thing is, I had to have the work in to her 2 weeks before the paper was due, to ensure that she had time to type them. (She worked full time as a secretary: Rotary Club of Toronto). All my friends would be so P.O.d that I handed them in early!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you got away with it for so long! You always get your comeuppance though :)
ReplyDeleteYou always tell great stories! I got along okay in school, and did what was required of me, I guess. lol
ReplyDeleteAs kids, we never see around those corners. We have very limited eyesight.. foresight.. insight.
ReplyDeleteI think my main sins are so far buried in my past life that I'd rather forget about them altogether.
ReplyDelete