Tom

How a Child Accepts 「The World is Unfair」

This story happened at the sports meet when I was an elementary school student.  All students are required to join the 100-meter dash.  Three teachers were assigned to judge children sprinters』 place in the dash.  Each of them grabbed a child, gave him or her a card, and told the child to exchange the medal with the card.  On the morning of the sports meet, I was the 3^rd runner to arrive at the finish line.  But the teacher gave the card to the 4^th runner, Jerry, who looks form the back is a little like me.  Many of our classmates saw this and found it strange. Children usually have a strong sense of justice. They said to Jerry, 「How come you got that medal?  We witnessed Tom was the 3^rd, not you!」  「 You knew the medal shouldn』t belong to you but you took it out of greed.  You liar! 」  Under the pressure of 「public opinions」 and his own feeling of guilt, Jerry gave me the medal not long after the dash.  In the afternoon, I had such a stomachache suddenly that I couldn』t stay on.  I reported to our teacher and went home.  Everything appeared to go well.

   When I got home and took the medicine, my pain was relieved and I lay idle on the bed.  Suddenly the phone rang.  I ran to pick it up,

「Hello?」

「 You are Tom, aren』t you?」

「 Yes. What』s up?」

「 HOW DARE YOU FLEE TO AVOID PUNISHMENT!」

「Flee? Punishment for what?」 

「Tell your mother to talk with me.」

   I gave the receiver to my mom, not even knowing what had happened and who had made the call.  I didn』t understand what they were talking about very much.  But I could tell my mom was mad.  After hanging up the phone, my mom stared at me, holding a stick, and said,

「Your teacher said that you wrested a classmate』s medal and lied about a stomachache to escape from punishment.」  Not until then did I realize that my teacher made the call.

    「 Why did you rob him of his medal?」  My mom asked directly in a calm but horrible voice..

  「I didn』t.  Jerry returned it to me.」  I was confused that the teacher had said this.

   「If not, why did your teacher say so?」

   「I don』t know.  I was the third, so I deserved it.」

Right after my answer, the stick flapped on my arms and legs.  My mother didn』t buy my story.  Whenever I said, 「I didn』t do it,」 she beat me harder.  I had been taught not to cheat my parents, and I was telling the truth.  Why should I be beaten?  She didn』t stop beat me until I 「lied」 about having taken the medal from Jerry.  Then she asked me to wear a short-sleeved shirt and shorts to show the bruises on my body.  I found it strange that I should admit the crime I didn』t commit. 

Next day, I confirmed with Jerry that he gave the metal to me.  I found out what the problem was.  Jerry had made a mistake in wording.  He told the teacher 「the medal was taken by Tom.」  But actually he didn』t mean I had wrested it.  We went together to tell the teacher the truth to clear up the misunderstanding.  After a while in class, the teacher asked Jimmy and me to come to the front.   

「Tom, how dare you wrest Jerry』s medal!」  I could tell the teacher was in a fury for she wrinkled up her face, staring at me, speaking in an aggressive tone.  I was so scared that my heart beat fast.

「Yesterday I was the 3^rd runner but that teacher mistook Jerry for me, so Jerry got the medal.  Afterwards, Jerry realized that the medal belonged to me.  So he returned the medal to me.  I didn』t wrest it.」  I tried to tell her the truth.

「Jerry, how come you told me that Tom took it?」  She turned her face to Jerry, shouting at him. It was strange that her expression and tone were the same.

「It was just a slip of the tongue. I meant I gave the medal to Tom, not that it was wrested by him.」  Jerry was a little nervous and was frightened by the teacher.

After hearing us, the teacher didn』t realize it was just a misunderstanding.  Instead, she yelled at me, 「Do you have any evidence that you was the third?」  Now she got even angrier.  Obviously, she didn』t believe me.

「We are telling the truth.  Everyone did see it! 」 

「Everyone?  Who is everyone?  Who saw it?  Stand up!」  She turned to shout at the whole class. Teachers are the authority for kids.  Everyone kept silent, surrendering to her fury.  No one was brave enough to stand up.   I was astonished that many of them saw it and claimed that I deserved the medal on the playground yesterday, but now no one dared to be the witness.  Eventually someone stood up, shivering slowly. 「 I saw it, madam.」  He was the leader of our class and my spark of hope.  He would prove my innocence! 

The teacher walked up to him, each step so hard that it was the only sound in the classroom.  I thought she would be convinced by the leader. She stopped, bit her lips, and slapping my savior across the face, snarled, 「 With which eye did you see it?」  His glasses dropped on the floor, broke, and my hope was dashed into pieces.  He chocked with sobs and sat down, 「 I didn』t saw it.」 

The whole class was stunned at the sight of this.  This should be the outcome of being a witness.  I didn』t dare to expect any witness.  She walked back to Jerry and me, grabbed my arm and said, 「 You must have wrested the medal!  Otherwise, why did you happen to have a stomachache to escape from school?  Don』t think I will be deceived by your simple excuse!」  Then she started to beat me and wanted me to admit robbing Jerry』s medal just as my mom had done.  Then she pointed at Jerry,  「 You must have been threatened by Tom to make up the story, didn』t you?  Don』t be scared, Jerry.  I will protect you from fear.」 

「But we all are telling you the truth, madam.  The medal belongs to Tom!  The leader did see it!  Tom never threatened me!」  Jerry realized how impossible the teacher was, speaking aloud.

「 I am disappointed with you, Jerry.  It』s kind of me to help you but how dare you try to cheat me with them!」  She grabbed a stick, beating Jerry together with me, pressed us to accept her scenario in front of the whole class.  Finally, we surrendered to this aggressive and dominant authoritarian, 「making up」 the story she demanded.  I 「admitted」 my vicious behavior, 「returned」 to Jerry the medal, and 「apologized」 to him, of course, with tears.  After I got home, my mom asked me eagerly, 「 Did you apologize to the classmate and the teacher?」  「 Yes, I am wrong.」  I responded with despair the answer she had expected.

For most children, parents and teachers are their instructor, teaching them manners, knowledge, good habits, and moral lessons.  Meanwhile, they are always the authority.  What they say and what they do are always right.  But to err is human; everyone makes mistakes. Teachers and parents are no exceptions.  I had been taught not to cheat parents and teachers ever since I was a child.  Though I was talkative and kind of naughty, I still bore this rule in mind.  I had believed such clichés as honesty is the best policy; calm communication eliminates all misunderstanding; I won』t be punished for what I didn』t do.  But in the story, I was disillusioned with these idealistic dreams.  The world is unfair.  Teachers and parents are always ready to impute the faults on innocent children.  When I was treated unjustly, my mom, the person I trusted most, didn』t trust me in return but trust the always-right teacher, who though of talkative students as guilty.  The truth is not what has happened but what people admit.  I had been a childlike and innocent boy before ten years old, but after this event I had to accept that no justice would be served.  I started to hate authority because it』s the injustice-maker.  I have faith in nobody because even parents prefer authority to their children.  They are the helpers of authority.  The authority thinks she is always right.  She thinks of herself as justice.  Anything that conflicts with her is evil, which she is obliged to destroy 「out of her sense of justice.」  But she never knows she creates injustice.  The world is unfair, and the cause is mostly the authority.