What Happened in Mayberry, Stayed in Mayberry

Let’s have some straight talk…there has been mean girls and bully boys, since Adam and Eve.  They may not have been taunting victims on cyber space, but they got their licks in, under the all-seeing eyes of  parents and teachers. Then there were those who saw, heard and ignored the obvious signs of distress.

Now, this is not a story with a lived–happily–ever-after ending…As a matter of fact even till today, it has an unknown ending. That is why Momma thinks it is important to reflect on the past, pick up that mirror and scrutinize that image peering back at you.  It may not feel comfortable but it is all about making sure it never happens again.

It was not exactly Shangri–La, where Momma was born and grew up, miles from a city, yet still touched by all known human sins and errors (sometimes of omission).  No, it was more like boot camp, with parents, teachers and principals of the school able to hand out attitude and corporal punishment at will. As the adults bore down on the children, Momma says that children retaliated by bullying the weaker who lived among them.

In order to make your way through this maze it was a big help to not be too smart, too slow (mentally or physically), too fat, too poor, too pretty, too ugly, uh, you get it.  Otherwise you were ignored, cast away, ridiculed, sometimes served cruel teasing from all those who met the unwritten standards, written in indelible ink in our brains.

It has been a girl nicknamed Melancholy that haunts Momma.  Her family was not only poor, the story was told that they abused poor Melancholy  mentally and physically, making her sleep in the barn.

She came to school with her beautiful platinum blonde hair that we all would have died for, in an absolute rat’s nest.  She wore the same tattered, smelly clothes day in, day out.  And so everyone ignored her.  No one talked to her, not even the teachers interacted with her, since they probably thought to center her out, would make her feel more uncomfortable, so it was best to ignore her.

One day Momma met up with Melancholy in the washroom where they were both washing their hands.  Their  eyes met in the mirror but Momma did not even acknowledge she could see her.  Until today, Momma doesn’t understand why, the quintessential cheerleader that she was all of her life, no peer pressure because no one else was around, did not say one word, ask her how’s it going, what’s up, to Melancholy.

All Momma knew is, one day, Melancholy never came back to school.  Since she was invisible, or so it seemed, no one questioned it… Still it haunts Momma.  Did the teacher or principal of the school  finally report the angry bruises all over her skinny arms and legs… to the Children’s Aid or the police? Was Melancholy relocated, put under protective custody, in a home where she at last she found love, peace and security? Or did she finally get the nerve to run away from home?  Did a more grisly event happen to her?

Momma likes to think that Melancholy went to a good home, grew up, worked hard, fell in love with a good man, had 2.3 kids and lived–happily–ever-after At the end of the day we’ll never know but:

I Remember, I Remember….Those days are hard to forget. Why did we deny your very existence? You live in memory, our only regret.