I love my Tuesday/Thursday 8:00 a.m. class of Writing 2 students. What a great group! This morning, I didn't have to rush up to campus by 6 a.m. like I normally do in order to get grading done before my 8 a.m. class. I made a stop at the grocery store to pick up a few necessities, and while I was there, I thought, "Might as well bring some treats in for the students." I grabbed some donuts, some mini cherry pastry turnover things, little bottles of Sunny D and then, sort of as an after thought, some bananas in case anyone preferred a lighter fare.
When I got into the classroom, there were 3 or so in there at that time -- thankfully 7 more came shortly after that. They saw the food and were like, "Is that for us?" I said, "Sure, I was at the grocery store and thought I'd grab us some treats." Those students got up from their chairs so fast that I could hardly believe it. The best part was when I took the bananas out of the bag and put them on the table. The only guy in there at that time said, "Yeah! Bananas -- Sweet!" and took two.
While I chuckled to myself about that in that moment, after thinking about it for a while, I realized that there is probably a lot more to that statement than I initially thought. Bananas -- no big deal, right? Sure, for me growing up, bananas were always around along with apples, grapes, oranges, and of course, more summer strawberries than we could eat -- on shortcake, ice cream, in pies, or in Grandma's jam that we'd freeze and enjoy all year long. It was no big deal and I thought all of that was just part of the package of growing up.
With my students, I'm not so sure. The longer I teach at the community college in my town, the more I notice about the disparity between my upbringing and that of some of my students. I didn't grow up rich. I had two parents and they both worked, and worked hard, but we never were really in need of anything. We didn't have the biggest house ever (6 people in one, two-turned-into-three bedroom-house with one bathroom), didn't have new furniture or new cars and we didn't take vacations to Disney or anything like that, yet we always had what we needed, and in many cases, we were able to get a few things that we didn't need but wanted. When I say "we," I'm referring to my 3 sisters and me because my parents were the kind that were more than generous -- giving first to others and reserving leftovers for themselves, including driving rusty old trucks!
But what about my students? So many of them come from broken homes, the foster system, parents in prison, brothers and cousins killed on the street, having 3 babies by the time they are 19, being arrested themselves, and so forth. I could go on and on. In the midst of all that, did their parents stop to think about buying bananas while at the grocery store? Forget bananas -- what about grapes, strawberries, or even carrots, broccoli or cauliflower? Those things are not cheap, and when your income is low to begin with, compounded by multiple children or even generations of families living together, compounded again by lower educational background affecting one's understanding of the importance of those foods, and so forth and so forth, what importance do bananas have in the grand scheme of things?
Really thinking about this makes me feel so guilty -- guilty for having so much and for not realizing it, guilty for not thinking twice when I grab a bunch of bananas and stick them in my shopping cart and guilty for not understanding how the rest of the world is functioning around me. I've said it many times before: I live in a bubble, a big pink plastic bubble -- a place where there is and generally has been enough money, where college is done and paid for; where our house is comfortable and cared for; where my neighborhood is green and lush with trees, a place where people jog, walk, their dogs, and ride their bikes at any time of the day or night; where I don't have to worry about having the house windows shot out or the cops coming through regularly; where I don't have to closely watch the computer at the grocery store worrying about how high the total will get, where I don't worry about just getting enough gas to be able to make it to work that week (though I do cringe at the cost), and much much more.
And so as I sit here in my office at work typing this (insert here..."where I don't have to do manual labor in the extreme heat/cold for minimum wage"), all I can think now is, "Yeah! Bananas -- sweet!" ...such a simple phrase.
Right?
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