When I was in sixth grade, my teacher was frustrated out of her mind. No matter where she moved me in the class, I chatted up my neighbor. I remember each new class day, in an attempt to reign me in, Mrs. Hill shifted me to a different seat, hoping that I would get the hint and button the lip. But I found common ground with the each neighbor in turn. I made new friends.
Silence, to me, does not come naturally.
My teacher hit a point of frustration with my chattery and I was read the riot act and punished. My punishment was to stay after school each day and write “I Will Not Talk to My Neighbor” 500 times on the chalkboard. (a la Bart Simpson)
When I returned home after 50 repeats of this mantra on the board and told my mother of my shameful crime and subsequent punishment, she was angry at the teacher’s methodology. She marched in to ask what was solved by making me write on the board. The teacher saw her point, eventually, and agreed. When my punishment was deemed inappropriate, then I got in huge trouble at home.
Grounded just when I thought I was scot free.
Obviously, I was overly social and being disruptive in the class.
But look at the profile of these troubled individuals that open fire on malls, schools, and theatres. They are intensely quiet, deeply antisocial, and don’t connect with others. Not to say that introverts are all troubled because my favorite, most insightful people, are of introverted ilk. But they still connect to others, even if they aren’t talking to anyone and everyone.
And of course kids need to learn boundaries in class or it would be total anarchy.
But there is value is connectedness. There is value is socialization. There is value is chatting.
We need to talk to our neighbors.
