Poor Mrs. Stafford. She stood up, looked at us and yelled something like, “I’ve had it with all of you.” We had never seen our junior high teacher get rattled, and certainly she had never yelled at us (which we richly deserved). I think it was her equivalent of a nervous breakdown. I can’t remember if she put her head on the desk or left the room or both. We were a bunch of rowdy kids acting out while she was trying to do something, like read poetry to us. I was so startled at her outburst that I still remember the date…May 25. What year, who knows and I don’t really care to go back and see how long it’s been.
We were wild; we did what we wanted and ignored the rules. Now keep in mind wild was not drugs and worse, but acting out in class and talking when we were supposed to be silent and studying. Still, when I think about our “wildness” it reminds me of the book, The Four Agreements, and the author’s comment about how we were domesticated as children, perhaps the wild taken out of us. Of course, it goes into much more than that, but there is talk about domestication of what is wild and natural in all of us.
To domesticate, according to one definition, is to change from a natural or wild state to something more subservient. And if we think about it, perhaps we’ve been domesticated a little too much.
Yes, the acting out of a silly group of teenagers may not have improved our abilities to flourish in the world, but keeping the essence of what makes us passionate and excited about life, is worth cherishing and holding onto.
Where can we take a detour from the rules we feel govern our lives and condition how we think, to tasting a little freedom of thought, letting go of rituals and “shoulds” for just an hour or so to see where it leads. Where can we let go of how we always do something to allow a different perspective? Find something that we fall completely into, enjoying the process so much we forget everything else around us? What can we do that gives us energy, pride, hope or just makes us smile, with no agenda whatsoever? Where can we allow our true wild nature to come out and shine, which will nourish the essence of who we are?
