September 30, 2010

Sharing

Written by: Dave Voisine, Reading Teacher, Willow Crest Elementary

The morning started out like any other morning in my 5th grade classroom, except for this pungent odor that stung my nostrils. After clearing my head, I asked the class if they knew where it was coming from. They identified the culprit. Jack, our class “gentle giant” sat in his seat, trying desperately to blend into the classroom and his surroundings.

Life in a western Alaskan Yup’ik Eskimo village in the middle of winter is very dark until 10 or 11 o’clock in the morning. Apparently, while leaving his house, Jack had accidentally stepped into a bucket of seal oil. To my western nose, seal oil odor was like skunk spray on steroids. Jack had proceeded to school without giving it a second thought. Once he was in the closed, contained air space of the classroom, the odor permeated every nook and cranny. I gruffly asked him to put his boots outside on the porch so we could all survive the morning, especially me! Jack politely followed my request.

After completing our morning activities, it was time for lunch. Since my classroom was about a quarter of a mile from the high school where we ate lunch, we had to get dressed for the weather outside in the dead of winter. Upon getting ready for our trek, there was a commotion with the students getting ready. When asked what was going on, all (except Jack!) replied that one of Jack’s boots was missing. I began to investigate the situation. There were paw prints leading away from the classroom, leading me to believe that the missing boot was taken by a dog hoping for a tasty meal.

Feelings of guilt and remorse overwhelmed me and I struggled to find a way to remedy this awkward (but humorous!) situation. I then remembered that I had a brand new set of boots at home. It just so happened that Jack’s boot size was the same as mine – 10 ½. While my aide monitored the class, I rushed next door to my teacher housing to retrieve my new boots. Jack put them on and we finally headed to lunch. I felt so awful about the incident that I told him he could keep the new boots.

Everything was fine again in the land of ice and snow – until the next morning. Jack arrived at school with a well-worn pair of tennis shoes. Disappointed, I asked him what happened to the new set of boots I had just given him. He replied, “Dad liked them so much, I gave them to him!”

This incident, which happened in Emmonak in the early 1980’s demonstrates the Yup’ik value of sharing with one another.

(Author’s note: During the following fall, I noticed a single boot near the boardwalk to my classroom. Eventually, I realized this was Jack’s lost boot, returned after the spring floods!)