Innocence Lost

"Hey, Bill! Hey, can I ask for a favor?" asked Ted outside his third-grade classroom.

"What is it," replied Bill as Ted closed and locked the door.

"Well, I'm having a parent-teacher conference this afternoon, and I was wondering if you could be sure to take out the trash and sweep the floors and stuff before 3:30. Can you?" Ted inquired.

"I don't know; we'll try to get to it. In fact, I'll be sure to do it myself," responded Bill, making a mental note to be sure it's done.

"Thanks! I have to go to a meeting real quick. I'll see you later," said Ted as he walked off quickly. He noticed one of his students waiting for his mother a little ways down the hallway and stopped. "Hey, Timmy."

Timmy had heard Mr. Ted tell Bill the janitor that he had a meeting to get to and said politely, "I can wait by myself, Mr. Ted. You have a meeting."

Rather surprised at his young student's response, Ted was silent for a moment before realizing that Timmy had seen and heard him talking to Bill. Noticing that Bill had gone back to his office, he looked back at his student. "It's OK, Timmy. I can wait here with you for your mom for a while."

"But you have a meeting!" said Timmy vehemently.

"I was lying about the meeting."

Timmy was shocked at seeing his teacher blatantly lie to a fellow adult.

"But...but, why did you lie to Mr. Bill?"

"Timmy, he's just a janitor! No harm. When's your mother going to get here, anyway? I can only wait 'til 3:45, then I have a real meeting with Vice-Principal Rocheal."

Again, Timmy was mystified at his teacher's lies. His face twisted from disbelief to confusion as he tried to comprehend what just happened. "But, Mr. Ted, why did you say you had a meeting at 3:30 in your room if you don't?" Timmy asks quietly.

"He's just a fat, lazy janitor, Timmy. If I didn't give him a reason to clean my classroom, he wouldn't do it at all," Ted again said without a second thought.

Inside Timmy's young mind, the double meaning of janitor made a permanent stain. Open discrimination was momentarily endorsed by one of his few role models. The constant biological tick of Timmy's conscience was halted for those few seconds, and a different outlook on life began to take shape.