One of the reasons we were asked to read this book was to help us as future educators understand the damage racism can cause. Villasenor certainly suffered for it. There are important things we can learn from that aspect of his story. But I learned a lot more from the stories he shared about his family. I have mentioned what great teachers he had in his mother, father and brother. But one day he accidentally learned a lesson from his cousin Chemo. Chemo was older and sort of a big shot in his school. He was handsome, really good at football and had a pretty girlfriend. One day Victor was riding along with his sister , Chemo and Chemo's girlfriend. Chemo was driving his girlfriend's parent's car. Chemo, being sort of show off, was driving way to fast on a curvy road. Victor started to get scared because he just had feeling something bad was about to happen if they didn't slow down. He cautioned Chemo to slow down but that just made Chemo mad and he told Victor to shut up. Victor told him again that he really needed to slow down. Chemo told him to "Shove it" and started going faster. Victor was really agitated because he had envisioned a red truck coming around the bend of this narrow road. So Victor yelled at Chemo saying that it was his last chance that if he didn't obey him and slow down he would jump out of the car. He told them he was going to jump and then they could get killed by the red truck. So here was this little boy telling his older cousin not only to obey him but also saying with certainty that there was a truck coming around the bend. Chemo saw no truck and was mad about being told to obey a little boy. So, of course, he didn't slow down except just a little bit as he took a curve. It was at this moment Victor seized the opportunity and did indeed jump out of a speeding car. He hit the road hard and rolled down into a ditch. This finally made Chemo hit the brakes. At that same moment the red truck came by and swerved away from the car just in time. Of course, Chemo and the girls ran down into the ditch to see if Victor was okay and there was much hysteria as one might imagine. Victor described how he could see the scene unfolding as from above himself. He expected the girls to be upset but he also saw how upset Chemo was and realized that Chemo actually did love and care about him. When he came back to consciousness and they were talking about getting him home, he only agreed to go if Chemo drove slowly. Chemo's manhood was pricked again and he said that he was going to drive like he always did. So Victor said he would rather walk even though he could barely stand. He was determined not to get back in that car and have a ride like that again. The girls finally convinced Victor to get in and Joan drove her parent's car.
Later when he was at home and talking to Joseph about the incident he learned that telling Chemo to obey him was a challenge to his manhood especially since he said it in front of Chemo's girlfriend. He had made Chemo look bad in front of his woman. Joseph told him if he was ever in a situation like that again just to tell the driver he needed to pee real bad and ask them to please slow down.
So a good lesson for us as educators is to try never to make a student look bad in front of his classmates because it will just make things worse for both parties. Also when dealing with a volatile situation a cool and calm reaction works better than a knee jerk reaction. Finally just because someone may appear indifferent or even a little hostile towards someone , that doesn't necessarily mean they don't care about that person. For some people it easier to put up a front of indifference than show their true feelings.
No comments:
Post a Comment