well, just what if…



I watched the movie eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. After the movie, I, just as everyone else who watched it, wondered if I would do the same thing.



A bit of background on the movie: there is a doctor who can erase people from your memory. The procedure happens in your own bed after you go to sleep and when you wake up, it’s as if the person you erased never existed.



Most of the movie has people who erase loved ones or pets or someone that they loved and then lost, and the hurt was just too much... the downside to this is that they have to erase good memories as well as bad memories. Maybe for them the pain of the bad memories is far too much, and the good memories are worth sacrificing for the unattainable ‘ignorant bliss’ people constantly yap about.



If I were to erase people from my memory, and certantly would give my business to the doctor in this movie, I would erase those people that caused me soley grief and pain. Two people come to mind in an instant: Mr. Madkins, and Mrs. Lockridge. Who are they, My 8th and 5th grade teachers, respectively. Mr Madkins once told me (in front of the entire class) “i’m so full of your shit, my eyes are brown” what could a 7th grader possibly do to deserve that? This guy also put me in remedial English (which doesn’t come to a surprise after browsing thru my older blog archives). Regardless he had it out for me, or he had it in for me… how does that go again?



Now Mrs. Lockridge… that woman put me thru 5th grade hell. I was new to the school after transferring from a different school that I spent most of my grade school years. This homeroom teacher had a ‘sign in’ book, for those instances when a studen would talk in class and get caught, if someone didn’t do their homework, was late from recess… etc. however, I was the only person in the class who had to sign in for sitting on their feet. That’s right, I was a feet sitter, and I still am damnit!! What exactly is ‘feet sitting’ you may ask? Simple, feet sitting is when one sits on their feet, in my case this is done while sitting on a chair. That’s right, I would ‘sign in’ every time she caught me sitting on my feet. 3 or 4 signatures each month would result in a loss of movie privileges. Each month a movie was shown to the good kids, while the other ‘bad’ kids were sent to study hall.



I never made a movie that year. I found myself with the children that didn’t turn in their homework, or the ones that talked back to the teacher… the badasses. I was a false badass. In grownup person talk it’s equivalent to being in prison for outstanding late fees at the public library. The story gets worse from here…. I remember clear as crystal the boy who sat next to me. I remember his face, his first and last name, I even remember that he always wore white reebok high tops. He had a few pairs of them. He sat to my left and there was an isle between us. His name was mike and he would not only sit on his feet just as I would, he also would push back and lift up the front two legs of his chair as to recline and lean on the back legs of the chair, A cardinal sin in the realm of 5th graders. He, however, had unexplainable immunity. I never witnessed him ‘sign in’ once for sitting on his feet.



I’d erase mrs lockridge in a second, and I’d erase the vivid memories of those ‘good’ children’s faces on their way back from the movie. Heck… I don’t think I’d lose out if I erased my entire 5th grade education! I don’t think I even learned anything, I was too busy trying to not instinctually sit on my feet!



Yes that’s how I recall painted rock elementary school, something I wish to have erased.