Taught my lesson this week feeling truly ill. Teaching in colleges is tough at the best of
times and I dread that moment when you are under the weather. It usually brings out the pack instinct in a
class. They sense your weakness and go in
for the kill. If you have ever watched a
pack of animals turn on a weakened member you can guess the scenario. Last year I became run down due to a family member’s
illness. Travelling across the London
for heart treatment and back really drained me and the class I walked back into
was quick to ascertain the lay of the land.
They became increasingly out of control and I hated it and them. Strange how fragile the relationship you can
have with a class can be. Usually, I
find you gradually grow to like classes.
They all have their oddities but then don’t we all? But at that moment something died between me
and that class and I never got it back. The warmth that should exist between us was
gone and I viewed them with active dislike.
However I tried to rationalise my feelings I just could not get past the
memory of their abuse of my weakness. You
like to think one can be the bigger person, forgive and forget, but at times
you have to name and shame the fact that you simply can’t. All you can do is move forward with the experience
and learning that may have been acquired along with the damage.
So this week heading into college feeling really unwell
brought back bad memories. However, the
classes were great. They sensed my vulnerability
and they behaved better than normal. I
put it down to them being animal husbandry students and they have a higher
empathy than the norm. When working with
animals you never have to check them for being rough they aren’t. You don’t have to tell them to think about
the animal’s well-being, they are already in that mode. In fact when you watch how they hold a young
goat or a rabbit you see their compassion in the very way they use
restraint. Gently and calmly, stroking
the animal into restraint with the least force.
Perhaps, when we are with the very vulnerable our real side comes
out. We are free to be as we really are. Cruel or kind, nurturing or a bully anything
is suddenly possible. So it was nice to
see this week the classes responded almost better than I would have even
hoped. Their kindness to animals
included teachers such as I. But then
the real links between animal abuse and child abuse have already been proven by
statistics. Now vets who find a
suspected case of animal’s abuse are instructed to let social services know, as
those who abuse their pets will often be the type to abuse their children. (see – this link for other patterns http://www.peta.org/issues/companion-animals/animal-abuse-and-human-abuse-partners-in-crime.aspx)
A horrible but effective poster in the US shows patterns of abuse linked to
treatment of animals and has the saying “men who beat their children often
start with their best friend” above the picture of a puppy.
