Thank you, Mrs. Upton

More bad news this week.  I received word that Mrs. Geraldine Upton was gone.  I've written about Mrs. Upton here a couple of times through these many years.   I actually sort of wrote the same story twice.

I was a big fan of Mrs. Upton--I considered her a friend and a guide.  I appreciated Mrs. Upton not only for what she meant to the many, many students that she impacted in her role as teacher and guidance counselor but for the impact she had on me.

She changed my attitude on race relations and role models.  To put it most simply, she taught me the importance of being able to find a place where you weren't always in the minority.  Whether it be your church, your school, your friends, your neighbors, anywhere--she taught me that everyone needs to have a place where they look around and see people that are more like them.

Now this can be about how you think, how you look, what your interests are...many different things.  Minorities can be found in lots of different places.

Maybe it's how someone dresses or the purple in their hair or simply that they talk with an accent not found much around here. 

Take the kid (or the adult) that is into computer games.  If that is all that they are interested in, on some level that has to be OK.   But others might see them as different and as such they become a bit of a minority.  If they have a place to go where others have the same interests, they often find a home.

Who knows, they may go on to invent all sorts of things and become a billionaire and all. 

Now before you jump on me for minimizing the concept of being a minority, let me tell you that I know with absolute certainty that racial minorities are the most discriminated against segment of our population.  And that inequities and prejudice are still around us.

But what Mrs. Upton taught me was that we need to put ourselves in the shoes of others, to see the world from someone else's perspective.  Too often, when you look around and everyone around you is different from you, you feel you have nowhere to go.

A community, a group where you aren't in the minority becomes a safe haven, a comfort zone if you will.  I'm certainly not advocating  that anyone isolate themselves in that zone.  We have to live in the real world.  We have to deal with the world on its terms.  But isn't it nice to be home every once in a while?

The other thing Mrs. Upton taught me was the importance of role models.  Everyone needs someone to look up to, someone to admire and emulate.  Not long ago I talked about looking next door for your heroes.  Same thing for your role models.

But when those role models don't exist, what do you do?   We all have a responsibility to be THAT role model, to be THAT person.   You never know who might be looking at you wishing "I want to be just like him."

Know what it is like to live in a world where everyone seems different from you.  And BE the role model that you might not have had. 

Thank you Mrs. Upton.