Gratitude
Thursday, June 18, 2020 at 5:59PM My hometown, Braintree, is a suburb of Boston and in the era when I was a child, there were very few black families or households. I knew of only one; let’s call them the Williams family. They had a nice house by the lake, which we passed every day as we walked to elementary school. My brother recently told me that he and his friends would sometimes fish in the lake from the Williams’ backyard. The boys knew that the Wiliams’ wouldn’t kick them out, whereas the neighbors would likely ask them to leave or possibly call the police on the unwanted kids in their private yards.
In fourth grade, I had a black teacher, Mrs. Jones. That was her real name, Mrs. Patricia Jones. Can you imagine being the only black teacher in town? Especially in a town that had almost no black students?
Mrs. Jones recognized that I was a smart kid who had potential and she encouraged me to work harder to demonstrate my capabilities. So, my first report card included some B grades, along with several A grades. I still recall being upset that other classmates received A grades and I knew I was smarter than they were! By the second half of the year, I earned the straight As I thought I deserved (maybe there was a B in phys ed). By that time, Mrs. Jones and I had developed a good rapport. It was a long time ago, so I don’t remember any details of our class interactions. However, I clearly remember corresponding with Mrs. Jones after she left my town and moved to Tulsa after teaching for one year. We wrote to each other a few times, but didn’t stay in contact for long. Remember, I was a 9 year-old child at the time!
In honor of Juneteenth and in the spirit of expressing gratitude[i] to those who have made a difference in one’s life, I offer this small expression of gratitude to Mrs. Jones. I have no idea if she stayed in Tulsa or if she is still alive. But, if anyone knows a former schoolteacher named Patricia Jones in the Tulsa area who would be about 80 years old today, please let her know that she made a positive difference in my life and I am grateful to her.
[i] This recent lecture by Professor Nicholas Epley of University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, describes the power of expressing gratitude: https://youtu.be/6yB44OBNBB0. See also my friend Patty Sutton’s Grateful Med site, which was designed to help express gratitude to health care workers: https://gratefulmedcards.com/