My Gang by Dee Ann E

Emerging Courageous Online Magazine - Stories

My Gang by Dee Ann E. L. Horvath

When I think about it now, as I was growing up I was surrounded by so many different kinds of kids in school. I started school at Roseman Elementary. It was an experimental grammar school off of Wisconsin College in Whitewater, now a university. Only twenty-five children were allowed in each class with a head teacher and two student teachers from the college. There was a viewing area in the back of each classroom with a one way mirror so we could be observed. It never bothered us on account of we felt special because we were chosen to be in that school.

There was Geoffrey, who when the dissected parts of a cow's eye were passed around the classroom, he chose to devour part of it. He entirely grossed us all out, but I think that is what Geoffrey wanted. He just wanted attention and he didn't care want kind he got. Then there was Kathy and Nancy, who were daughters of college professors. Each one average but when they played chops sticks on the piano, we were all in awe of them and their ability. Irene was also the daughter of a professor but she broke the mold. Her parents were older like mine and she had a retarded sister, Eddie. Her home was a rooming house for college students and it was always exciting there. My mother didn't think that a cat walking through flour when rolling out pie dough was extraordinary, but I did. Doreen, Donna, Gary and, Morris were the farm kids. I think they felt they had to prove something to us town kids. Secretly we all envied them. Only later did I realize how hard their lives were on those farms. Barbara and Raymond were cousins and catholic. They came from large extended families and were considered poor. When I was invited to their homes there wasn't much room to move but there was a lot of fun. What they lacked in money they made up for in love. Meredith, was the pawn between Irene and I. I was the new girl in town and Irene and Meredith had been friends for a while. I liked them both but we were always at each other throats. We changed our tunes according to the wind.

Then there was David. He was the most intelligent and the sweetest of them all. He knew all the answers to every question but he never got a big head about it. His parents had a lot of money but he never behaved like it. Maybe that was because he had other issues. His face was deformed and he wore hearing aides in both ears. Everyone stared at him in the beginning, but after awhile he became one of us. We saw past his outward differences and he saw past ours too. I spent five short years with these kids and you know I remember their last names more than a lot of kids I went to high school with. It was the early sixties and we went through J.F.K.'s physical fitness program, standard inoculations, and bomb raid warning precautions together.

Now my daughters are in classes with children with diverse backgrounds and nationalities and to be honest it was hard in the beginning till I remembered how different all my classmates were. Volunteering at school helped me to see that all children are simply that, just children. Each one unique and special just as my friends were many years ago. We each have something to offer, we all deserve respect, and with that we can finally begin to reach altruism. If we all take it back to the innocence of childhood, it all becomes clear. We are each a wonderful creation and if we remember that we will all flourish, prosper, and grow as individuals and as a society.

By Dee Ann E. L. Horvath
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