Lynn Quigley
Home - Mediumship/Spiritual Guidance - Spirit Release & Rescue
I WAS THINKING.
I was thinking today of some of the people who have made a mark in my memory, mostly adults, that have stayed with me - part of who I am and have become.
Although I like to believe I am " my own person" I hear myself saying things that adults have said to me in the past - in other words - I sound more like my mother and my teachers than I ever thought possible - I'm hoping that some of you out there feel the same!
What is text messaging all about?!
C U/RUOK/ - what language is this?Miss Hughes was my English teacher and form teacher when I was 11yrs old. Those were the days (There I go again) when you had to stand in silence when a teacher came into the room and greet them in unison " Good morning Me Shoes" we would chorus.
"I'm not your shoes" came back the reply.
What was this woman on about? Surely a mad person shouldn't be in charge of 30 young ladies? Does the headmistress know?
We soon learnt what we were doing wrong - lazy speech was not tolerated by Miss Hughes! Raising your hand urgently to ask a question was ignored, leaving you with a numb arm and gazing round the room at your class mates to see if they could see you - or was She right - you were invisible.
You see She knew what you were going to ask. "Can I go to the toilet?"- " I don't know - can you? - is there a medical reason why you can not?" then She would carry on with the lesson.
It took some, longer than others to realise that "May I" received either a yes or no.
When you're 11yrs old, this sort of adult interaction is confusing, but the lesson is there to be learnt - it is a choice whether or not you choose to use it. I have to say that there are some people - even on the BBC - who would have benefited from being in Me Shoes's class.
Teachers are there to inspire us, to give us there enthusiasm to learn their subject - NO - our art teacher, faced with 99% ambivalence, didn't subscribe to that theory.
She was quite a large lady and she used to walk round the art room - hitching up her bust - saying "I don't care what you do - I've passed all my exams - it doesn't bother me".
Today, some would throw their arms up in horror at such negative speak. On the contrary - she was right - we choose which lessons we learn. The majority took the view that at the end of the day and indeed term - when school reports were out, a - "TRIES HARD" rather than "REFUSES TO WORK" looks a lot better on a report and gives you less hassle at home, therefore, most of us tried to produce something recognisable - even I (who still can't draw a straight line without the appropriate ruler) had a poster put on the wall in school for all to see. "KEEP TO THE LEFT WHEN ON THE STAIRS!" Is this how Andy Warhol started?
Before I mention the next teacher, firstly I have to explain something about my dad. He was brilliant at -the glare- the -flash of the eyes- no need to shout or smack or threaten, the glare was enough, or it should have been. It was for my sister, who actually never did much to warrant it and it surely couldn't be for the Chinese burns she used to do on my arm because he was always at work when she did that!
Unfortunately for my dad, -the glare- didn't work on me, as it seems that I had inherited it as well, and therefore used to do it back to him Of course this has a title today "mirroring"or as mum used to say when he told me off for doing it "well you do it Eric"
So there we would be - glaring at one another. I respected his anger (actually I probably didn't) and I think he respected my response in a funny sort of way - any way, once we had glared at each other we seemed to know where we stood with each other and that was that. It's a funny world!
Back to the next teacher. Miss Singleton - PE teacher extrordinaire! She must have had a dad like mine because she glared as well and she had a whistle!! My first memory of Miss Singleton was - after a PE lesson you had to have a shower - in public - YUK (I hope that word is in the dictionary or Me Shoes will be having a fit).
Anyway back to the shower. This concept was completely alien to me and I must note here that I had come late to this school, approximately two weeks into the new term - all the other girls were used to this regime - or so I deduced - so it was only me who felt very uncomfortable.
The rule was - strip off - walk - don't run - to the shower - walk the length of them (about 8ft) - walk, don't run, to your clothes peg - dry yourself (no towels in the shower area) - get dressed. Oh and we had five minutes!
The observant amongst you will have registered the - don't run - rule, not me, in my haste to reach my towel, guess what ----flat on my back, legs in the air.
The humiliation was GREAT - "I said - don't run" she boomed. How she kept a straight face I'll never know. Miss Singleton taught me that rules were made for a reason and it was safer and far less embarrassing to follow them, not only that, I felt that she was also very wise and that everything she said made sense - it was LAW.
However this didn't stop me from challenging her authority - you see I thought that like my dad - if I responded with a glare - to her glare - we would respect and understand one another, and that would be that.......... WRONG!
During netball practice she told me I had made a foul move with my feet; Well who cared! it was a stupid game - with stupid rules ; so I glared!. Unlike my dad, things didn't end with -the glare. I was made to repeat catching the ball - which she was throwing at me, harder and harder - till not only did I not make a foul move - but I smiled while I was doing it. I took on her challenge and met it. Oh no - she wouldn't beat me!
She would also challenge me over the tennis net. I hasten to add that she did this to everyone - I was not "singled" (get it)"out" - I was one of a herd. Hitting hard balls at me and shouting "HIT IT".. It got me in the tennis team and Cynthia and I beat girls from a school - taught by what we both understood to be a archrival of Miss Singleton. "You played well girls". A compliment indeed.
As I mentioned I had come late into this school and had come from a private school into a secondary modern - fodder for some bullying. Wrong again - having stood up to some older girls who threatened to knife me outside school I gained some respect from most of my fellow classmates and was voted form captain.
The only thing it seemed a form captain was expected to do was threaten my peers with the headmistress if they didn't keep the noise down when a teacher wasn't present - high office indeed - as I also had to carry the can if I hadn't done my job properly.
Where is the justice in that - I wish I'd been voted milk monitor instead - yes we still had our third pint of milk during my first year at secondary modern!
Back to Miss Singleton. One girl in my class lived in the same village as me and had seen me going to my last school wearing a silly hat - you know, the ones with the elastic round the chin. Well one day whilst we were all in the gym waiting for Miss Singleton, she started taking the "mickey" - not one to back off, a fight ensued - you know the sort of thing -rolling round on the floor - hair pulling- tearing at each others flesh.
Unbeknown to us, Miss Singleton had walked in. I don't recall what she said, maybe she didn't say anything, what I do recall is the punishment. She decided that the whole class would do "Circuits". To those of you who don't know - circuits was the most dreaded of things in PE All the gym equipment came out; - bars, ropes, ladders, floor mats, horses the lot. Round and round we went, up, over, under, repeatedly, and don't forget the girls behind and in front of us were doing this because Jean and I had a fight.
Miss Singleton taught me about the horrors of peer pressure that day. Jean and I were nudged, knocked, walked over by the class AND I discovered that I had a fear of heights (I'd been happy in the apple tree at home). A fear of heights, when you are meant to be climbing a rope and scaling wooden poles is a great hindrance, in fact as I am telling this story, my hands are sweating and my heart rate is going up.
Miss Singleton recognised that the fear was genuine and here is where her compassion kicked in - she got me up the rope and over the poles eventually by making me believe it was safe and that I could DO IT. And of course, it was safer to go up, than come down!
She had my attention.I trusted this woman and respected her as a teacher. Even now I can draw on her spirit if I choose to.
She hadn't forgotten the fight though and so she decided to teach Jean and I a lesson in teamwork. She gave us the job of putting everything away and getting a shower before the bell went, and of course in those days (I'm off again) if you were late for the next lesson - punishment was expected. Needless to say, Jean and I became best friends for the next four years, then she left school and we went our separate ways.
Miss Singleton also showed me that it was possible to put a hockey boot on over a swollen foot (someone had accidentally stood on the top of my foot that morning in the bus queue and dug her stiletto heal in" and still run round a hockey pitch for a double lesson.
Strangely in the fifth year, I was made games captain of our "house" and Miss Singleton gave me the advice that - leading by example was the best way and so as sports day approached, I entered or was entered for every event, "don't ask people to do what you wouldn't do yourself" AND, your participation collected one point for your house. I jumped, threw, ran, and scored at best, one point in every event.
Her encouragement led me to collapse after a 400 yards, I can still hear her bellowing now, "RUN -KEEP GOING- RUN". She did provide a classmate to sit with me and push my head between my knees until I came round - her compassion shone through again It's thanks to Miss Singleton that I haven't wasted energy going through life thinking that I too could have won a medal at the Olympics, if only I'd been given the chance.
Here I must point out that I now "mirror" Miss Singleton, whilst watching rugby league on television. "RUN -KEEP GOING-RUN"- resulting in our dog running round the living room trying to escape from this mad woman. "GET UP MAN. HE ONLY STOOD ON YOUR HEAD A LITTLE BIT" - so you see I do compassion as well. Oh - and the whistle - I keep one by the telephone in case I receive a nuisance call.
The one place she turned a blind eye was on the hockey pitch - an avid County player herself - and I loved the game, having played since I was about 7yrs old, we were both a bit demonic. She was scary!! coming at you with stick in hand, and I learned a little of her technique, i.e. just keep going with your stick in front of you and others will get out of the way, it makes you look good, as does - aim the ball, with speed and ferocity at the ankles of others, and watch them hop out of the way!
She gave me and Cynthia the opportunity to play in a County B team one Saturday morning, what I hadn't bargained for was that the opposing team played like she did. I was rubbish! I was out of my depth! I probably only touched the ball once and that was a foul - we lost. Cynthia was asked back - I wasn't.
I was grateful for the opportunity and learnt that when playing a game - there may just be someone who is better than you!
Miss Singleton used her power to bring effort out of girls. She showed by example, she challenged us - sat on us - she brought us out of ourselves, she said "you can" when we said "I can't"and she said "you will" when we showed reluctance.
Teachers are all around us, they are people we react and respond to - giving us the opportunity to see who we are, to see what we are, who we could be, good bad or indifferent.
Everyone is a teacher to someone.
I AM WHAT I AM
I am what I am, is my belief.
You don't know me and I don't know me.Who knows me? What is my potential?
If God created me - does He know the answer?I came with His seal of approval
and He loved me enough to let me go.A child within the universe.
How does He know where I am?
Is it His responsibility - having let me go- to keep the cord attached?Or do I love my Father so much that whatever I do, or wherever I go, I know I will always return home to his arms?
Yes.
