Random Acts of Living


Friday, January 28, 2011

January 20, 1972

(click on the article to enlarge)
I didn't attend the assembly that is mentioned in the article I posted. What I recall was walking down a dark empty hallway with my books in my arms and finding the door to my history class still locked. I stood in the doorway as the riot descended down the hallway towards me. A black (is that politically incorrect? I apologize if it is) classmate hollered at me to get the 'H' outta there. I think I was in shock. Another girl that I did not know grabbed my books and started pulling on them. The classmate I knew came to my rescue telling her to leave me out of it. But as she walked me out of the fighting, her arm around my shoulder another girl hit me over the head with a combination lock. The fighting only extended about halfway down the hall. Further down at the intersection was a gathering of students and teachers. My classmate handed me over to them and headed back into the fray. Being a head wound, by the time we got to the nurses office I had blood down to my waist. They put ice and pressure on my wound and by the time my dad got there to pick me up it had stopped bleeding. He had picked me up on the way back to his office and had a client with him so we had to make a detour to drop off the client before going to the hospital. We didn't hurry. I was the unnamed student mentioned that went to the hospital. They put in stitches, don't remember how many, 3 or 4? By the time we got home, rumors were flying. My locker-mates were concerned because they found my bloody books. Someone was saying that I had gotten my throat slit.

Later, back in school, I asked my classmate that had helped me to introduce me to the person that hit me over the head. She set up the meeting in the student lounge. I went alone, the other girl didn't. I held out my hand and told her, "no hard feelings." I know that she didn't hit me personally, because she didn't know me. I just wanted the fighting to stop.

7 comments:

Peter said...

Hi! Glad you lived to tell the story. The scars brought on by our school day dramas may have diminished, but the memories live long.

Take Care,
Peter

sterling said...

I remember the hate that waited for us as we got off the school bus. I remember confusion and fights. I remember the intolerance and ignorance. But mostly I remember a guy that I had a fight with sitting next to me in a class at WSU some 4-5 years later, he had kids and needed a degree to earn enough to take care of them, I was just trying to finish school too. We both talked about how small and stupid that stuff was compared to the "real" fight...survival as an adult. Saw Kenny Blue at the 25th reunion, he was a fighter then, not anymore. I know that there were many hurtful things that happened in my youth... and many great learning things that happened in my youth. Sometimes those things overlap and intersect, when they don't I focus on the positive and put the hurt away. I made great lifelong friends at South and have used all of my experiences from South to grow and grow up. Stuff that didn't kill me made me stronger...so I guess i take the bad with the good. As much as I can tell that was my youth and I kinda miss it. Somebody should apologize to you... I will if it will help you heal.

Sterling

Moonshadow said...

Hey, Peter! Hope all is going well with you. I don't suppose you had any of these types of trouble over there during this time, did you? I saw on the news that your already damaged and flooded country was getting ready to be hit by yet another storm. We're all bundled up in our homes for the mother of winter storms. One of the biggest ever recorded. You work on healing. I keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

Moonshadow said...

Sterling - Thank you so much for commenting on this. I will gratefully accept your apology, though I don't feel that I was owed one. In the home that I was raised in, the people that surrounded me, I never experienced the hurt and hate that you did. My hurt came from another place, a feeling of helplessness, that I couldn't stop the hate and anger. In turn I would like to apologize to you for the anger, intolerance and ignorance you experienced. It is unfortunate that it still exists in this day and age. It sounds like you have done well with your life, and that gives me reason to be happy. :)

Peter said...

Hi! I didn't experience anything like this, just bullies trying to make a name for themselves. My father however, when he travelled to the US in the late '60's, had to lock himself away as a race riot took place. Well, that's how I remember it anyway.

I see that the US is experiencing heavy snow falls from the Midwest to the Northwest - I take it you guys are ok?

My two sons, daughter-in-law and baby Emmi are locked away on the ground floor of their home in Townsville as Australia's largest ever cyclone, cyclone Yasi, comes bearing down on them and other towns in Queensland.

Just spoke to them and they're ok thank God!

Well, that's about it - Hi to Sterling by the way - sounds like a very nice person.

Take Care,
Peter

Jennifer said...

Wow, what a day that must have been!

Moonshadow said...

Peter - I didn't think I had heard of riots over there. Must have been a real culture shock for your dad.

I saw on the news that now you're dealing with fires over there! Our snow had melted back pretty well but we've got more on the way. Glad that you family was safe from the storms, hope all of you are safe from the fires, too.

Prayers for your speedy recovery!


Jen - It was crazy times. Lots of tension. Any little conflict could flare a riot. Not sure how far we've come, there's still people out there that think they're in the pre-civil war south. :(