Saturday, September 8, 2012

SCHOOL VIOLENCE

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs19_cSXbhk&feature=channel_video_title
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWLqu5DWtbw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtiWFkyvh4o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J__kLNLIPpA


As a child I was forced, with violence, to attend a Victorian era school system. One of the basic, founding principles of that system was 'Spare the rod and ruin the child'. In all honesty, I could not give you an accurate account of how many times violence was inflicted on me. For example, two canings on each hand was standard practice for speaking in class when I was told not to. Being wrongly accused and standing up to defend myself earned me, minimum, of 6 to 9 floggings on the ass with a 3' wet cane. At one point in the game, this is what I was made aware of; Mr. Miles, who metered out corporeal punishment, happened to be 6' tall, 50 years of age and weighed about 220 pounds, informed me in no uncertain terms that he had made it his goal in life to 'break' me. At that point of no return, I informed him, "Breaking me, sir, is no longer an option for you. The only option you have left now is to kill me." At that point, he heard the truth, and I might add, it did not please his ears. His blood pressure rose so fast and high that his face turned purple. He then lunged at me and grabbed my ear. He twisted it (which was a favorite Victorian trick) so hard that I was convinced he was going to tear it off my face. The pain was excruciating. He then proceeded, whilst twisting my ear, to forcibly drag me down the corridor and two flights of steps, opened his office door with his other hand and threw me across his desk. He then picked out his favorite cane which was thinner than the rest. (He had 5 different grades.) He walk to the opposite side of the room from where I was bent over his desk and proceeded to bend the cane in all directions. After he was satisfied with the canes' flexibility, he ran across the room with the cane behind his head and hit my ass with as much force as he could muster. He then walked back to the far end of the room and repeated the process. Nine times! My ass was so brutalized, literally, I could not sit down for a week. There were black and blue marks on my ass, twice the thickness of your thumb. I'll spare you the gory details of the amount of blood.

No one was ever brought to justice for that act. I am alive today to tell you the tale. I am also highly qualified to tell you about torture, corporeal punishment and brutalization. I will repeat what I said in the beginning. There are two options left to mankind now. You either put your life on the line, with no guarantees, or you roll over and piss. That option, I am told, has guarantees with it. That movie I have just described to you started in 1960. That Victorian school movie ran for 5 days a week, 7 hours a day. It finished in 1964.

What did I learn out of all that? I can tell you in 3 words. POWER OF FORGIVENESS. There were no choices, I had to forgive him. He, obviously, didn't know what he was doing. My inner intelligence also told me, 'you have two options, forgive him or carry it with you for the rest of your life.' And, by the way mate, don't forget.