I Didn’t Do It

I am not a liar! Not telling the truth was severely punished in my house growing up.  I learned at a very young age that being honest was very important, and always tried to tell the truth.

(My first-grade class. I am on the bottom row in the middle.)

One of my most vivid memories of first grade was an episode with lilacs.  There were some lilac bushes by the school.  They were in bloom and it was against school rules to pick the blossoms.  One afternoon a bouquet of lilacs appeared on the piano in our classroom.  My teacher, Miss Mamie Olson was kind of upset.  She wanted to know who had disobeyed the rules and picked the flowers.  Some of the members of the class told her they had seen Debbie bring the flowers in.

When I came back from lunch.  She accused me of picking the lilacs.  I told her I didn’t do it.  She said that people had seen me bring them in and that I was in trouble.  No matter what I said, she would not believe me.  As a punishment I would not receive my little carton of milk that we received every afternoon as a snack.

I was very upset.  I wasn’t a liar.  I didn’t do it.  I didn’t care about the milk.  (I remember it always being warm because they sat it by the radiator in the classroom until snack time.  We drank it from the carton and it always tasted funny.)  I hated not being believed.

About then, Debbie Ricks, another girl in my class came back from lunch.  She lived right across the street from the school and was late for some reason.  It was discovered that she had brought the bouquet of lilacs from home and put them on the piano. I was so relieved.  Finally, there was proof of my innocence.

I learned how important it was to me to be trusted.