“How is Mr. Gallagher’s Facing History and Ourselves class?”
“It had the biggest impact on me. I loved that class.”
“Impact? How?”
“You have to take the class to understand.”
Now I understand. Before taking the class I was under the perception that it was about Nazi Germany. Yet, my friends and other classmates were raving about how the class changed them as a person after they took it. I was confused; how were the two linked? I thought Mr. Gallagher was going to prop us all into a room, talk about the facts of what happened. I understand the subject is difficult for many, yet how could it change them? My confusion was put to rest on the very first class. Mr. Gallagher told a story. He stood up in front of the class. Perfect posture, perfect voice volume. The spark in his was not unnoticed by anyone in the class. The whole time Mr. Gallagher was telling the story, no one flinched. It was too hard to even blink because that would be too distracting and ruin the concentration every set of eyes was giving to him. The story:
“I was having dinner with a few of my friends. It was a nice dinner. All of us got dressed up. One of my friends was telling everyone about the afternoon he just had. He was saying how he was at the grocery store, and decided to hold the door open for a woman coming in as he was walking out. Well as the woman walked in, she did not say THANK YOU to him. So he decided to call her a bitch. As he was telling the story he was expecting everyone at the table to pat him on the back and agree with what he did. I did not. I asked him why he opened the door for the woman. If he did it for a thank you then he should not have done it all. I said to him if you wanted to open the door because IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO then it did not matter if there was a thank you or not.”
The class was in awe. It was not only the story that had an impact on everyone. It was Mr. Gallagher’s passion while he was telling the story. He wanted to be standing up there in front of them room. And every single student sitting in all the desks signed up to be in that class room. I understood now that we were not talking about the basis of who, what, where, why, in Nazi Germany. We were going to spend a semester talking about HOW. And to fully understand that how, we had to understand ourselves before understanding others. Thus the name Facing History and Ourselves. I was able to reach this because I was not being embedded with ideas by my teacher. He was not shoving his beliefs down my throat. As a matter of fact, instead of lecturing us in front of the room most of the time he would be behind us watching the documentary with us. We were given the freedom of expression. No opinions were wrong only facts. Each student was encouraged to participate in the class discussion and each student was entitled to say whatever they wanted to say with while still respecting everyone in the room. Through this responsibility we each grow as individuals. We each understand the consequences of the actions we take. This does not mean we will each leave the classroom and never utter a racial slur again. But the power of those words will have a greater impact on us from now on. We will each stand up for what we ourselves believe in, not what is expected for us to learn.
“Mr. Gallagher, I wanted to tell you that the other day I decided to help a lady out that seemed to be having difficulties with her bags. I was working then, but that was not my job. I asked the woman if she needed help and she said yes, she wanted us to put stuff in her car. The stuff was pretty heavy too they were like bags of fertilizers and stuff. After all that lifting, she never thanked me. And before I took this class it would have bothered me, I would have gotten mad. But that time, I remembered your story. I wanted to help her. I did not have to. And she didn’t owe me anything, not even a thank you,” Tom O’Connor said to the class.
It has been a goal of Mr. Gallagher to allow this course to be presented to other grades in the high school. Not only to seniors, but also to freshman, sophomores, and juniors. Mr. Gallagher kept at that goal. Many important people from the school committee came in to hear us and view the class in action. A reporter came in and interviewed the class. With every visitor every student in the class was able to convey their thoughts and views of the class. Trying has hard as they can to exemplify the affect this class has on them. We all spoke up. A theme taught in the course throughout. Still, no matter how hard we tried we knew that those viewers had to experience the class to truly understand it. To truly be affected by it.
As seniors, we will all be leaving High School this upcoming week. We will all be off to fend for ourselves in the world. We saw the past, and learned about How the events were allowed to happen. Each time, we looked at ourselves too. We understood our actions, our motives, our beliefs and combined them all together. And every single person that steps out of the room, will not forget the past, not forget our class, and still face his or herself.
How long will this last?
When were you taught to respect each other? Ever since you could learn to talk? Have you ever forgotten how to respect?
Same concept applies to this class.
You never forget.
