All lemons are not alike

Everyone can describe lemons. But getting to know particular lemons taught kids in Maine how to appreciate diversity.

from the January 18, 2008 edition

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The lemon exercise reminded me of a poem by William Stafford, "A Ritual to Read to Each Other." He writes:

If you don't know the kind of person I am
and I don't know the kind of person you are
a pattern that others made may prevail in the
world
and following the wrong god home we may
miss our star.

When he met with the sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders, Harnett made some more specific points about these patterns that we often allow to prevail. He shared some effective videos made by middle and high school students in Maine talking about knowing and not knowing what kind of person might be sitting next to them.

There was a quiet Somali girl describing how she had been spit on and told she didn't belong and a senior honors student who endured years of bigoted name-calling.

My favorite story was about a 7-year-old African-American girl who hated going to school because she was harassed on the bus by high school juniors. Harnett got a call from her parent and arranged for meetings with school officials and the bus company.

But it was another 7-year-old who solved the problem. When the taunting and bullying started up one day, she walked up to the big bullies and addressed them. "She's my friend. Names hurt," she told them. Case closed. Who can argue with a brave second-grader?

In his stories about civil rights cases, Harnett described some pretty awful behavior. But it's words like "bravery," "courage," and "individual" that formed the lasting impression – stories of the strength of a single person to turn things around, once they had an accurate judgment of what's right.

He may win the court case, but Harnett often feels dissatisfied with that outcome. After all, the damage has already been done. That's one reason he brings lemons to schools around the state and focuses on the power of education to thwart discrimination and the use of those words that hurt.

Stafford summarizes the lesson:

For it is important that awake people
be awake,
or a breaking line may discourage
them back to sleep;
the signals we give – yes or no, or
maybe –
should be clear: the darkness around
us is deep.

Did you notice how quietly Stafford reminds us that we do indeed have a star to follow? I know a few kids who will never see a lemon the same way again.

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