A Boy Named Osama-A Man Named Adolph

Sometimes people are just ignorant. Sad to say that means all people, including me. My wife told me about a lady she works with. Not a close friend, just a colleague. This somewhat fastidious woman, and concerned mother, was upset her child had to read a story about a boy named Osama in school. Definitely a tough name to have in this day and age, and your heart has to go out to the kid. I did a little research and tried to find out what I could. The child is an Islamic kid attending school in New York. The constant harassment he received over his name left him severely traumatized and led to a botched (if you could ever call an unsuccessful suicide attempt a failure) suicide attempt and a transfer to a school for traumatized students. I guess it figures students would be pretty cruel to a kid named Osama. After all kids are by nature quick to jump all over strange names, and man can they be hateful. Osama, however, wasn’t bullied by other students, far from it. In his own words he described his classmates as being very supportive. No, Osama was bullied by teachers. Teachers, just like me. He was told he would never pass no matter what he did, he put up with comments like, “Oh Osama you’re here, and I thought you were hiding in a cave somewhere. The school principal went so far as to tell Osama, a Nigerian-born Muslim, he would be better off in an Islamic school. This went on for over two years and led to the eventual suicide attempt. In his new school Osama prefers to be called Sam, but will revert back to his given name when he reaches 18.
Where do my stupidity and a man named Adolph figure into this? As unpopular as the name Osama has to be for people carrying that moniker through life in this day and age, Adolph was equally hated in the post-war years. You know which war I’m talking about, the last one we won. As a child my neighbor across 4th avenue from us was named Adolph Lucas. Mr. Lucas I’m sure was a nice man. He never missed mass, always shoveled his walks, and his wife Mary was quick to share a freshly baked cookie. None of this mattered to Don and I. We were shitty to Adolph Lucas. We would see him get home from his job with the county roads department, park his pickup in his driveway, and make his slow purposeful stroll up the sidewalk to his front porch. Don and I would hide behind the bushes and yell terrible things at Mr. Lucas. You can imagine, especially if you know Don, what we yelled. The name Hitler or worse yet Heil Hitler, Nazi and a number of other equally insulting barbs were constantly hurled. Think about how cruel this must have seemed to Adolph Lucas. Imagine what he must have been thinking as he took communion and there stood Don and I as alter boys in our cassocks, doing the work of the Lord. My guess is he wasn’t mad, he didn’t consider suicide, and he wasn’t looking to sue anyone. My guess is he felt sorry for us.

I See This Kid

I See This Kid

I see this kid in front of the building
Pants way too baggy
The crotch at his knees.
A cap
Bill pointing straight to the side
Laughing, holding a skateboard
Waiting for the bell to ring.

I see this kid in the hallway
Her hair is pink, and orange, and maybe green
Big buckles, chains, adorn her
Baggy pants
Laughing and walking
With a friend

I see this kid in class
Polo shirt, shorts, flip flops
A hemp choker around his neck
Writing a poem, doing his work

Who are these kids?
What will they become?
My guess is..
Parents, teachers
And
Maybe engineers.