Clarence

We counted them up one day and we had lived in thirty-six houses before I reached the fourth grade, which is really moving around. I had just entered the second grade in what was my third school to be entered into and around the 34th house we lived in when I met Clarence. Clarence was the most ungifted person I ever had the privilege to meet. Ungifted, smelly, filthy, ragged, and poorer than me . I know that you are thinking that I have some amazing story to tell you about this boy and how we interacted and how close we became and how we always to this day stay in touch. Well, you would be wrong. I’m going to tell you about the worst possible moment in my childhood when I was part of a terrible prank that to this day I don’t think I can forgive myself for doing.

Mrs. Orr was my teacher in the second grade and she taught me so much. I use her real name so if you ever run into her you can tell her how much I still hate her. She was so mean she should have been in Catholic School. The Wilson boys went to Catholic School and were always telling us how mean those teachers were. Mrs. Orr was so mean she pinched the scab right off my arm that was there due to my vaccination. Too bad those vaccinations didn’t keep little boys from having to put up with people like Mrs. Orr. What then do you think I learned from this wretched lady? I learned that if at all possible to stay away from the mean people in this world and not to play jokes on people that don’t deserve it. You see that is what we did to poor Clarence. Actually what started to be a joke or just plain roughing up another kid turned out to have a result that no one really expected. During recess some other guys and I decided to allow Clarence to play football with us. None of us really wanted him to play but we felt that if we roughed him up a little bit then we would feel better about sitting in a hot classroom with this smelly person. As it turned out none of us wanted to tackle him either. Finally someone tackled him and at that moment we turned ugly. We decided that while we had him in the dirt we would give him and old fashion dirt down the pants deal. Actually we did not stop there. We filled his head full of dirt and his shirt, and just before the bell rang we rolled him in it so bad that his shoes were filled with dirt. We all ran to the room and sat quietly because you know who, Mrs. Orr would soon be in.


Clarence was sitting there as if nothing had happened. This had been the first time that anyone had paid attention to him and I really feel that he had enjoyed the attention he got even though it was bad. Just then Mrs. Orr walked in and with vicious eyes she scanned the room for do badders. It seemed she had a second sense when it came to smelling trouble. At first she did not see Clarence in all of his glory but just when we felt that we were clear she broke the silence with a loud thunder that started with "Clarence!!!! What in God’s name happened to you?" Needless to say that Clarence had buried his head in his arms on top of his desk. That was the moment that I started feeling bad. I reckoned it was guilt. It had to be guilt because I felt so bad. Clarence had no control of the conditions he lived in. He never appeared to be the type of boy that would refuse a bath or new clothes for that matter. He was very quite and shy and not involved with anyone. He was a loner and one whiff of his body odor would help you to understand why. However he did not get one breath of compassion from the mean old Mrs. Orr. She grabbed him by his dirt filled ear and towed him away to the office. My stomach began to hurt a little more. I could only imagine what they would do at the office with a poor kid who had gotten extremely dirty at recess. Would they send him home? That did not make sense since he came to school dirty anyway. Would he get the paddle for his behavior? Then the thought occurred to me that what if he told who had gotten him dirty. My stomach started hurting worse. It was now guilt mixed with fear. I thought I was going to have to ask to go to the nurse. It was unbearable.


After what seem to be an eternity a knock came on our closed door. Mrs. Orr opened the door and to everyone’s surprise there stood a clean well dressed Clarence. Someone at the school had given him a bath and good clothes to wear. He had on new shoes that looked a little large but new anyway. His hair was combed for the first time. We were surprised at how nice looking he really was. Clarence returned to his seat and never told anyone what had happened. Maybe he thought we were just playing and he got the best of the deal. Maybe he was glad to finally be apart of something and hoped it would continue. Maybe he was glad he got a bath and new clothes. None of the boys involved were ever good friends with Clarence but we sure held a different kind of respect for him. Clarence disappeared from our classroom shortly after that and I never got a chance to tell him I was sorry for helping to get him so dirty. It makes me wonder now in my latter years just how my mistakes affected someone else. Did I have a good impact on people or bad impact? Do they still think of me and incidents like this one? How was I active in the molding of their lives? I see it often in my children in the things they say and do. I hope I have left something for them to remember that will impact their lives in a positive way. I guess that was what Jesus did and why we still tell his stories. The writers of the New Testament tell us of many things that happen to Jesus and his response to them. I cannot recall one that included rolling someone in the dirt because they smelled bad or not dressed as well as he was. However. I do recall a verse in the New Testament that says good can come out of bad to them that love the Lord. That must be what God showed me through this. That must be why my heart sinks when I see a crusty beggar walking up the street. My prayer is God make something good out of this. My actions may not always be to stop and help but often I have. My intention is to never try to hurt someone. My lesson is God can do wonders with the mistakes we give him.