Freedom Of Choice
Ms Mwanna tutted at the “You can be whatever you want” poster above our classroom door.
“Pigswill!” She muttered. “You will no more be a basketball player than I’m an astronaut. Dreams without realism are just failures waiting to happen.”
There’s another poster inside that says “There’s No Such Thing As Failure”, but I didn’t show her that one. Mr Coe had left our story books open on our desks and I wanted her to see mine. It was called “Someone I Love” and I’d written about her and me. I drew a picture of us making cards for Mummy.
Extroduction
I once heard a Primary School announcement tell kids “Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t do something!” I get what they were trying to say, but parents and teachers have to tell kids this all the time (you can’t fly, no, it’s not safe to leap from the top of the climber…, etc).
These ‘inspirational lines’ are difficult and divisive even among adults. When I write stories about Melanie, Ms Mwanna is my favourite adult in her life, but sometimes readers don’t like her attitude; I suspect this will be one of those times. Still, if you like Melanie, or you want to understand more why she loves her cynical old neighbour and takes her to the school open night, you can find more stories about them here.
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