When I was a HS sophomore – decades ago! – my World
History teacher was Mrs. Holloway, but we all called her Granny Holloway. She
was a slight woman, scarcely 5 feet tall, seemingly fragile, but full of vim
and vinegar….you know the type. She could speak for hours about the Fall of the
Roman Empire, the Inquisition, the Industrial Revolution, and the World Wars.
She never sat while she lectured, never stood at a lectern, but moved around
the room making eye contact with all of her students. She was demanding too,
and I can’t remember how many papers were sent back to me because she would
note “you can do better than this, Miss Schaal.”
One day during class, an office aid interrupted her
lecture to hand her a note. She read it silently, apologized, and said she
needed to leave the room. We knew it had to be important because Granny
Holloway stopped lectures for no one.
We sat in the room talking to one another when the door
opened, and in walked Mrs. Abels, another teacher in our HS. She explained to
us that Granny had been faced with an emergency, a serious one, and it was
questionable if she would even be returning to finish out the semester. We were
stunned. Would we get a chance to tell her goodbye? Would we get updates, so we
would know she was ok? Mrs. Abels assured us that we need not worry, that
Granny was safe but needed time away, and that the best thing we could do for
her, and the best way we could show our devotion to her, was to be cooperative
with her replacement. Mrs. Abels confirmed that she had been asked and had
agreed to step in as Granny’s replacement.
Cheer up, she told us, this could be a good thing. Other
teachers still believed in endless homework and projects with deadlines and
hard work. She would not bring that into our class. She believed in clean
slates. If there were grades that we did not like, she could give us a chance
to bring them up. She asked us what suggestions we had to make the semester a
better learning experience. Someone mentioned that lectures were boring and we
wanted more films. Done, she said. Someone else mentioned that a free day now
and then would help us if we needed to catch up on work in other classes. She
didn’t see a problem with that. She asked us how we felt about an
end-of-semester party. Um, yeah, sounded very good to us. And on and on. Mrs.
Abels listened intently and agreed to all of our suggestions, continually
emphasizing that her concern was that we have a good learning experience and
enjoy the semester. She also reminded us that we were lucky to not be sent out
to other classes where we would be working to catch up, and that of course this
was all for Granny.
Near the end of the period, shortly before the bell rang,
the door opened and Granny sauntered in with her usual Granny Holloway
attitude. “How did they do?,” she asked. “Marvelous,” said Mrs. Abels. “They
were completely in my hands.”
Granny then faced us and said “And that, my students, is
how a dictator takes over a nation. Not with guns or tanks or laws or mandates.
They do it using a poster child and promises and gifts and protection from an
enemy.”
I can’t remember a lesson all through 12 years of public
school that made such an impression on me, and has stayed with me.
We are among wolves in sheep clothing, many are being
deceived with a false light! I was falling for it myself until the Lord opened
my eyes to see and my ears to hear.
Stay awake! And buckle up. Put on the FULL armor of God,
we are going to need it in the days to come, NO man is going to “Save the
World”! Jesus Christ is the only Way, Truth and the Light!
Author Unknown
(I’ve been told the author is Stacey Shaal Steiner, from
Bay City High School in Texas)
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