She chose the step not taken. |
(Pedagogy)
Philosophy and Nonsense
Thoughts about
writing, education, and experience
Presented by
Forrest D. Poston
 The first goal of teaching is to strengthen, deepen and refine our intrinsic love of learning. All other goals and all methods must stem from that idea. Any that do not support that goal must at least be questioned and adjusted, if not eliminated. Otherwise, we are not teaching but training. |
And
that has made all the differenc. |
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Education Autobiography Challenge Considering Conclusions Considering Introductions Four Meanings of Life Godot and the Great Pumpkin A Major is More Minor Than You Think The Poetry Process (A look at 4 versions of a poem.) Thoughts About Picking a Major Quick Points About Education Quick Points About Writing Reading Poetry and Cloud Watching Revising Revision Reviving Experience Reviving Symbolism Using an Audience Videos What Makes a Story True? What's the Subject of This Class? (Being revised.) Why Write? Writing and Einstein (The Difference Between Information and Meaning) Writing and the Goldilocks Dilemma Links to Other Sites |
Sadie
on the Bridge by
Forrest D. Poston Herman left Sadie in a West Virginia coal camp with three small children and another coming. Life for Sadie had gone from difficult towards unbearable. In the 1920s, she had none of the options we might fall back on today long enough to get by, and coal camps were never populated by those with a lot to give, though some still found ways to help. Only Herman’s lack of math skills took a little of the edge off the harshness and slowed the decline toward starvation. When company scrip was given out on payday, the man in charge shorted Herman and held back some food money for Sadie and the kids. This covert child support was a generous act but not enough. Sadie struggled and searched for ways to keep her family together and alive, but solutions eluded her. Her last hope finding a way to reach Charleston and seek help from agencies there. She got to Charleston but found no help. With her last hope a bitter failure, Sadie decided that the only thing to do was take the children for a walk onto a bridge. It seemed a simple task now, the only answer she could see. She would push the two older children over and take the baby over with her last step. Before and after this moment some would have called Sadie and much of her line flaky, and rightly so in many ways. A generation or so earlier, many would have said fey. Perhaps that has something to do with what happened next, with whatever actually happened on that bridge one step from embracing despair. According to Sadie, an angel appeared and told her not to take that step. The angel made no promises, but Sadie took the children home and hung on. Eventually, George, who had for some time tipped his hat and said hello on his regular trips past the house decided to tip his hat, say hello, and stop by. Sadie and George had a till death do us part marriage with a combined “yours, mine, ours” family of 15 children. No one knows if Sadie saw an angel. Perhaps her subconscious managed to project the one image strong enough to overcome her desperation. Perhaps a glint of light grew with each telling of the story until the angel was born, or perhaps we can only say that the world is full of things we can’t know. The ripples from that step not taken have widened through 4 generations now. Perhaps none of these people have kept the Bailey Savings and Loan from going under or any other acts on the scale of “It’s a Wonderful Life”, but that moment means everything to some of us. One of the three children who walked back home from that bridge was my father. Back to the Home Page |
Back to the Home Page Other Essays and Poetry Something Somewhat Vaguely Like a Resume Being Like Children The Blessing and the Blues The Cat With a Bucket List David and the Revelation The Dawn, the Dark, and the Horse I Didn't Ride In On (an odd, meandering, semi-romantic story) Ghost Dancer in the Twilight Zone The Hair Connection and the Nature of Choices The Mug, the Magic, and the Mistake Trumpet Player, USDA Approved Videos Poetry Selected Poems The Poetry Process Writing by Current or Former Students Ms. Write Meets Her Match in Jr. Ms. Write Now by Heide Perry I'll Just Have Cats by Cara Hummel Toys to Toys by Allyson Bowlds Scribbles and Bits Links to Other Sites |