Last week I’m sure that most of you if not all of you, noticed I left the “t” out of mortality.
I remember hearing a story about a gal who was commissioned to send an email notice regarding a public auction to 10,000 potentially interested clients. The busy clerk did so and continued on with her work. One of her fellow workers came by and looked at the notice she sent and asked her who the notice was for. Rather impatiently she replied that it was for a public auction. The worker replied, “why did you leave the ” l ” out of the word public?” At least my mistake was not that embarrassing.

Speaking of embarrassing moments, got me into thinking about some of the influential teachers during high school such as Nick Jones, our grade nine math teacher. He had a policy that if you did not do your homework you got the paddle. For those of you too young to know what the paddle was about, it was a flat pine board about two feet long and four inches wide with a with a rounded handle on one end.

When Mr. Jones discovered you were negligent about doing your homework, he called you up to the front of the class, had you take everything out of your back pockets, and bent you forward over a desk in front of the whole class. Then he struck your bottom with the board. It always stung! If you were constantly negligent you would get hit more than once. When your punishment was completed you could go sit down on your tingling rear.
Most students such as myself only needed the punishment once. I felt no animosity towards Mr. Jones because I knew that I deserved it for my carelessness. I got the paddle from other teachers too for similar misdemeanors.

For one of the the occasions when I got my paddling, there was six of us in line waiting for our turn to come. Each of us stepped up to the desk and bent over knowing the pain that was coming.

Yes it was embarrassing, but it was not something that was going to destroy my sense of well being. Being punished was just part of being at school and making wrong decisions. Do your homework, avoid punishment and embarrassment, it was as simple as that.