Just Another Day in the Life

This is Homecoming Week at the high school where I teach. All week long, students have been gearing up for tomorrow. We are doing what we can to make it bigger and better this year. We are having the world’s longest pep rally tomorrow morning, and later in the day we will have a couple of powder-puff football games. Various clubs will be selling concessions as fundraisers, and I sincerely hope that the student council sells all 300 barbecue sandwiches I ordered today. (Otherwise, we will be hosting a fund-drainer instead of a fund-raiser.)

The past several nights, I have been working on floats for the homecoming parade. Numerous students and I have been working diligently with plastic streamers, chicken wire, paper mache, garland, velcro tape, and who-knows-what-all-else in a desperate attempt to make two trailers look like anything else besides two trailers. To call them floats is really being generous.

Tonight, Danny helped us. I gave him a ride over to Emily’s house where we were working, and he and I worked together to get some streamers on one of the trailers. As we worked, we talked about his schedule, his experiences on the football team, and other school-related trivia. The truth is, I know Danny’s twin sister fairly well because I taught her, but I have never had the opportunity to get to know Danny. I was really enjoying having him around.

As we were talking, he asked me if I knew another one of the football players. I responded that I did, and Danny went on to explain that this particular guy had been the victim of a crime recently. Apparently his football locker had been broken into and a small sum of cash had been stolen. Danny seemed more shocked by the victim of the crime than by the crime itself. He explained that the other player was a really great guy who was known not only for being verbal about his faith in Christ but also for being true to what he said he believes. I could hear the disbelief as Danny asked, “Why would someone steal from a person like that?”

I responded with the first thoughts that came to mind. I shared with Danny that there had been many times in my life when I knew I wasn’t living rightly… times when bad choices seemed to be the norm for me. At times like that, I didn’t like being around people like Danny’s teammate. Though I might enjoy being around them now, that has not always been the case.

“You know, Danny,” I said, “when I have been living in the midst of stupid decisions, people like him made me uncomfortable. They didn’t have to say or do anything… the fact was, I knew that they were living a better life than I was simply because they were making better choices. I felt… dirty somehow just being around them. The fact that I knew that they were living rightly made me feel bad about the way I was living.”

I went on to explain that it wasn’t even about the people… it was about me. I was dealing with my own guilt, my own sense of conviction. After a few moments of silence, Danny responded, “Yeah… I feel that way sometimes.”

After we reached a stopping point, I gave Danny a ride home. He joined me and my two daughters for dinner at a restaurant near his home, and I bought him a bacon cheeseburger to thank him for his help. He seemed to enjoy himself, and he didn’t seem to mind that my two-year-old can be can be louder than a banshee.

I am glad I got to talk with Danny tonight. He reminded me of why I am a teacher.