One thing for sure, I always had an interesting childhood. As a family, we moved often sometimes before the school was over, and sometimes in the middle of the school year. My father was a music teacher and when his students started to dwindle in an area and it was no longer possible to drive the distance to get to them, we would move. 

In each of our moves, my Mother played a very dominant role always the one who organized the packing and made sure everything was packed and ensured that what we really needed was left to the very last. During these moves, mother never missed a beat when it came to feeding her three children at the time, nor did she forget to ensure that we did our homework. 

Something Very Unexpected 

On one of these moves, we ended up in a little house about only about five hundred yards from a one-room public school. There were only a few houses around and we didn't know anyone in the area. The school year had already started so I had to do a little catch up with the rest of my class. This was my first one room school, so I didn't know what to expect at all having previously been in schools where there was one grade to a room. In this school, there were all eight grades in one big room and one teacher. 

What Was The Cause? 

I thought I was getting along just fine but then one day out of the blue, the male teacher took his piece of black board chalk and threw it at me. On this occasion, it hit me on the shoulder. To be honest, I never knew what I did or didn't do to warrant this outburst from the teacher - an outburst without warning. I never experienced a teacher acting in this fashion before and didn't know what to do. But, one day I did know what I had done - I turned around in my desk to talk to the student behind me, and then as I turned back, I felt an impact on my head that really hurt. The chalk was again thrown by the teacher and struck me on the forehead. 

Be Honest No Matter 

Well, when I arrived home after school, my mother saw the red mark on my forehead left by the chalk. She asked me what happened, so I told her. I thought after telling her that I would also get heck from my mom for talking in school and a response that basically would say I deserved it. Instead, I was really surprised at her remarks. Instead of scolding me, she said forcefully that the teacher had no right to throw chalk at me. When asked if he did this to other students, I replied yes. All I remember her saying after that was she would deal with it. I didn't know what she meant but I was about to find out. 

The Calm Before The Storm 

Off to bed I went that evening thinking the matter was over but it was not. The next morning before I left for school, she gave me an envelope and told me to give it to the teacher for her. I didn't know what was inside the envelope. There were no instances of chalk throwing that day at all. I retuned home from school and had been home for about fifteen minutes when there was a knock on the door. 

My dad was never home during the day because he was teaching. My mother didn't ask me to answer the door as usual but told me to go to the living room and stay there. So, I went to the living room and when the door opened, I heard a familiar voice. Much to my surprise, it was my teacher. He was invited in and took a chair at the kitchen table. 

A Mother's Wrath Unfolds 

What I heard from the living room startled me. My mother was not long getting to the point. She simply asked the teacher if he had thrown chalk at me. She received a quiet response answering yes. From then on, my mother spoke in a clear and powerful voice telling the teacher that he was to not only cease throwing chalk, or anything else for that matter, at me, or any of the other students. If he persisted in this behaviour, she would call the police, report his behaviour, and ask to have him charged with assault. He was then asked to leave our home. He did so without a word. 

Never Underestimate A Mother's Love 

I still remember that day after many long years have gone by. For me, it just wasn't that my mother spoke to him but that she had so much love for her children that she was more than willing to go the extra mile to ensure our safety. And, these were the days when authority figures always seemed to have the upper hand, where one did not question those in authoritative positions. But, this didn't deter my mother at all, and she confronted the teacher without my dad even being there. 

A mother's love for her children should never be underrated or questioned. I know the teacher got the point clearly because for the remainder of my days at this school, there was never a chalk throwing incident again. 

Thanks Mom.