The Strap (continued)

I wrote in yesterday’s blog about my first experience giving the strap. I gave it a few times after that and it almost got me my day in court.

Daryl had been caught doing something very unacceptable, so I took him down to the office and gave him corporal punishment. What I didn’t know was that he had had the strap already that day.

His hands were in pretty bad condition by the time he got home that day. His parents phoned the superintendent of schools, who paid a visit to our school, specifically to me.

He asked me why I had given the strap. I told him about the special staff meeting where we were told we wouldn’t have a job if we didn’t give it. He didn’t believe me. I asked him to ask the other staff members. He found out that what I had said was true.

A week later, the principal called an emergency staff meeting. We all filed into the library wondering what was happening. He told us that he had just resigned that day. Everyone was shocked.

Like bees swarm when their hive is disturbed, everyone knew about it by the next day. My class asked me if it was true. I told them it was.

I also told them that I would never be giving the strap again. Daryl mentioned that it never hurt. I corrected him, telling him that I had had the principal give it to me and it did hurt very much. I then said, “Do you think I would punish you with something without knowing what it felt like?” The class was suddenly silent.

Not that discipline had been a big problem before then, but the class had a new respect for me that hadn’t been there before.

I learned a valuable lesson, though. Never again will I do something that I believe is wrong to try to keep a job. No position is worth compromising my values.