| She
chose the step not taken. |
Philosophy
and Nonsense
(Thoughts about writing,
education, and experience.)
Presented by Forrest D. Poston
 The first goal of teaching is to strengthen, deepen and refine our intrinsic love of learning. All other goals and all methods must stem from that idea. Any that do not support that goal must at least be questioned and adjusted, if not eliminated. Otherwise, we are not teaching but training. Think, I dare you.
|
And that has made all the difference. |
| Sadie on the
Bridge by Forrest
D. Poston Herman left Sadie in a West Virginia coal camp with three small children and another coming. Life for Sadie had gone from difficult towards unbearable. In the 1920s, she had none of the options we might fall back on today long enough to get by, and coal camps were never populated by those with a lot to give, though some still found ways to help.  Only
Herman’s lack of math skills took a little of the edge off
the harshness and slowed the decline toward
starvation. When company scrip was given out on
payday, the man in charge shorted Herman and held back
some food money for Sadie and the kids. This covert
child support was a generous act but not enough.Sadie struggled and searched for ways to keep her family together and alive, but solutions eluded her. Her last hope finding a way to reach Charleston and seek help from agencies there. She got to Charleston but found no help. With her last hope a bitter failure, Sadie decided that the only thing to do was take the children for a walk onto a bridge. It seemed a simple task now, the only answer she could see. She would push the two older children over and take the baby over with her last step. Before and after this moment some would have called Sadie and much of her line flaky, and rightly so in many ways. A generation or so earlier, many would have said fey. Perhaps that has something to do with what happened next, with whatever actually happened on that bridge one step from embracing despair. According to Sadie, an angel appeared and told her not to take that step. The angel made no promises, but Sadie took the children home and hung on. Eventually, George, another miner who had for some time tipped his hat and said hello on his regular trips past the house decided to tip his hat, say hello, and stop by. After that, Sadie and George had a till death do us part marriage that over time included a combined “yours, mine, and ours” family of 15 children. They were still in the coal camp, and life was by no means easy, but it was better. It could be endured without another trip to the bridge. No one knows if Sadie saw an angel. Hunger can certainly affect the mind, or perhaps her subconscious managed to 
project the one image strong enough to overcome her
desperation. Perhaps a simple glint of light grew
with each telling of the story until the angel was born,
or perhaps we can only say that the world is full of
things we can’t know. Sometimes we have to be happy
with the outcome even if we don't understand how it
happened. The ripples from that step not taken have widened through 4 generations now. Perhaps none of these people have kept the Bailey Savings and Loan from going under or any other acts on the scale of “It’s a Wonderful Life”, but that moment means everything to some of us, and however it happened we're glad that it did. One of the three children who walked back home from that bridge was my father. E-mail Back to the Home Page |
Writing and Education Autobiography Challenge Considering Conclusions Considering Introductions Four Meanings of Life Godot and the Great Pumpkin A Major is More Minor Than You Think The Poetry Process (A look at 4 versions of a poem.) Thoughts About Picking a Major Quick Points About Education Quick Points About Writing Reading Poetry and Cloud Watching Revising Revision Reviving Experience Reviving Symbolism Using an Audience Videos What Makes a Story True? What's the Subject of This Class? (Being revised.) Why Write? Writing and Einstein (The Difference Between Information and Meaning) Writing and the Goldilocks Dilemma Links to Other Sites |
Other Essays and Poetry Something Somewhat Vaguely Like a Resume Alec Kirby, Memories of an Earnest Imp Being Like Children Beyond the Genes (Dad) The Blessing and the Blues Bookin' Down Brown Street The Cat With a Bucket List David and the Revelation The Dawn, the Dark, and the Horse I Didn't Ride In On (an odd, meandering, semi-romantic story) Getting a Clue Ghost Dancer in the Twilight Zone The Hair Connection and the Nature of Choices The Mug, the Magic, and the Mistake Roto, Rooter and the Drainy Day Sadie on the Bridge Trumpet Player, USDA Approved Videos Poetry Selected Poems The Poetry Process Links to Other Sites |