Stoicism

Back in 1963-4, we had a gal in school with us that had a few handicaps. The photo seen here isn't her, however this gal's attitude reminded me of Carol's. She just wouldn't let anything get to her.

As a young child, she contracted polio, hence the wheelchair. I think it was around 1960 when she was additionally diagnosed with MS, a double whammy, and she would probably not see her 20^th birthday. We kids were not told of this initially, she knew as did the school staff, she didn't want pity.

We kids kinda vied to push her between her classes just because she was so bright and lively! Her muscle control was rather poor and she was shaky, besides, she liked the luxury of all her motors! I had the Mr. Wayne's chemistry to Mr. Kellogg's geography stretch. ...funny how one remembers something so small after all these years...

There was one fly in the ointment. Like all schools, this one had its coterie of bad boys. Wannabe hoodlums. This one was headed by a snot-nose by the name of Eddie, mostly found disgusting by his contemporaries. He and his gang of other snot-noses would mock Carol between classes by acting spastic, mimicking Carol's poor muscle control. Calling her a spastic did it for me. Things. Must. Be. Done!

Before I go any further, one thing you'll need to know about me is necessary. I have a version of milk allergy that can be life threatening. As a baby and as a young child, I was often very ill, often bed-ridden, and quite often feverish and pneumonic. The allergy was known, carried down by the Irish side, carried by the females, and expressed in the males. It was typically about as bad as a mild case of hay fever. Mine was ready to rock and roll. I remember a time after the first grade when I had had pneumonia pretty bad followed by double pneumonia, being transferred to my sister's room (corner room, the most sunny in the house), and just laying there. No discomfort, also no interest in anything at all. The doctor had prescribed a fancy new miracle drug, whether prophylactically or for an infection, I don't know. The drug was Terramycin. Ever hear of anaphylactic shock? I wasn't expected to live. So you can see why I could relate to Carol so well!

 

My allergy was finally diagnosed right and all cow's milk products were eliminated. This was a bit difficult due to product labeling being different in 1956-7 than now and you would not believe how many packaged products contain milk products. Try nearly all.

Now, in order to Set. Things. Straight., Things. Must. Be. Done!, and the following was very helpful.

Dad and I began weight-lifting. I'm just a little, tiny thing that was supposed to die so dad and I lifted weights every other day for years. I remained small, too late to change that, looked like a skinned fox, however that skinned fox was as hard as a rock! Eventually, my 18 mile newspaper delivery bike route plus running track, 220 & 440 yard, put me in pretty good shape. Also, my grandfather was a Irish sailor in the merchant marine during Prohibition and was one that kept Liberty Hall cleaned out until he met my grandmother! He taught me a few things besides mathematics and they weren't what wines went with what dishes! Between the two of them, this geeky little kid didn't have trouble with bullies.

Don't get me wrong, I never went looking for trouble, I had my shredded butt handed back to me more than once. Pain wasn't on my list of things worth pursuing, however this time, Eddie needed some teachin'. He was doing things to hurt my friend's feelings so I was gonna hurt his snot-lockering self!

There was no fighting on school grounds, that would get a beating by the Principle followed by suspension followed by one's parents having the need for a touchy-feelie conversation. Belt and butt conversation. Works well. These daze, it's called child abuse. Those days, it was called “avoidance therapy!” I was big on avoiding therapy so Eddie and me had Mrs. “ya'll be quatt bak arrr!” Weeks let us off the school bus in an isolated area for our reassignment surgery session. I planned to make earrings out of his nuts so he'd look nice for the girls...

Welllll, it didn't work out the way I expected, probably not his either. He had me on size and weight, not much, I'd have no trouble bench-pressing him. I was fast, he countered well, and we were both aware of the “dirty tricks” method of fighting so that wouldn't work. After beating the living daylights out of each other for 45 minutes, we called a draw. The net effect was achieved; he and his hoodlum buddies left Carol alone. Another effect was I was big-time bruised up, belly hurt too badly to eat for a few days but would have been a problem anyway with all the loose teeth. Eddie didn't fair any better, a bit worse actually.

You see I had a beauty of a shiner. Eddie had two!

I won!

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