Who is Our Neighbor?

Who is our Neighbor?

Where does respect begin? I have a theory that when a high school student interacts with their peers, they need to use discretion and understand they themselves do not have all the answers to judge others in their class group. You never know who that person is or who they may become or accomplish in their lifetime.

The other day I was watching a news broadcast. I heard a name that I knew and was familiar with this person as a high school almost-junior class student. I remembered him fondly and had mentioned this person in our conversations early in Ron's and my relationship. He was retiring as an assistant coach at a rival university in Utah and I had not known anything about him later in life. My impression when I knew him was that he was the type of person that if I ever had a problem and needed help he would be someone who would offer to help anyone. He had had a fifty year career in coaching at the college level and with NFL teams and helped thousands of football players in his professional career. He is my age, so I know he worked beyond one retirement and was now retiring a second time.

This fellow in high school was what could be considered a “jock.” At the time I knew him, I had no idea what that was or what it meant. All I knew was that he was in football and was somewhat popular. I should say, he WAS popular but I never had the feeling or impression he thought he was better than me, or anyone else in our class.

I attended summer school, mostly to take a heavy class that would spare me a lot of homework on top of my other classes during a regular school year. The class was Human Biology, it was a required class so I took it the summer before my junior year. I had not dated much up to that time and was quite shy and had no specific male friends. This fellow's name was John P. He was tall, handsome and had brown eyes and blonde hair. He was fair skinned and had broad shoulders like a football player. Other than the observation from class, he was polite and knew the social graces and now that I think about was probably LDS. I didn't know many; of the students who were LDS in those years, mostly because no one really pointed them out to me. I think he was on the football team for Varsity Football. I don't think I even attended one football game my entire high school years. It was the “thing” kids did, but I was not part of that and not really interested in the competitiveness of team sports then.

I did notice though that some kids clustered socially after class and “hung out.” a lot in the same circles of the cheer leaders, the student body officers etc. I was a “nobody” so no one really bothered me but were polite and I felt comfortable around many of them. Many may have been LDS but then again, maybe they were just nice regardless. I usually had a few female friends, of all cultures. I had some Mexican class mates that I got to know from Spanish I-IV. I got along with all of them and we had our own so called group too I suppose. I had friends who were neither Mexican nor black. It was acceptable to call Negroes 'blacks' then.

John P. took the same class as I did in Human Biology that summer and we ended up being lab partners. That meant we would work as a team on our experiments or projects like dissecting a frog. We went our separate ways that summer and now a wonder in my mind, was John P a Mormon? Did he go on a mission? Did he have any family along the way? I thank him for his unconditional acceptance of who I was as a sixteen year old lab partner and fellow student.

There is a humorous (to me) incident that stands out in my mind regarding one of the class subjects the teacher, Mr. Hathaway taught one day. He stood in front of me and John as we sat in the front row as the teacher was trying to enlighten us on the ways of the world and human behavior. Mr Hathaway was telling us about how two individuals who were of the same gender and chose to live as if they were a married couple. He said, they lived together as one of them would take on the feminine role, and the other the masculine role but both would be men or women. He mentioned a few other characteristics as cooking or taking care of the household, and one being the breadwinner. It sounded very unusual to me and I whispered to my lab partner, (John P) “What is he talking about?” He looked at me; rolled his eyes and didn't say a word. He was in shock evidently for my having asked the question. I had never in my life nor had any idea about the subject. I was naive and really and honestly did not know what the teacher meant. I even remember it to this day the dress I was wearing that day. It was a white dress; sleeveless style. It was a white polka dotted design; a square neck in front and back with ¼ “ black and turquoise dots alternating 2 ½ ”apart on the material. I had made the summer dress myself that year since my mother taught me how to sew/make my own clothes that year. I was sixteen, and Mama was expecting my brother, David at the time in September, 1959.

Flash Back to now: As I thought about all this since yesterday evening, I came to the conclusion that I sat side-by-side with a genius of a class mate who effected a large group of individual and made a deep impression on so many in his personal and professional life. Who was I? I was just Anna Maria Rodriguez making it through my high school years, marrying a year later and raised a family of eight children. I felt that is my greatest accomplishment in my life. Being a mother and grandmother to over 40+ grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. My educational pursuits are paled with the great mission I had being a wife and the mother and loving my role as I came to understand and embrace being a first generation convert as a Latter-day-Saint. I would not change anything for what I learned and getting to know Jesus Christ as my Savior the last forty-eight years.

Takeaway: We never know who is sitting next to us, or who lives down the street and what they may become. We should not judge, it isn't for us to do that. Do we know who our spouse is, or who our children are that are sent to us from God? If we could see each other as Heavenly Father sees us, we would be amazed and treat each other with greater respect. God loves us unconditionally. And that makes all the difference in this world.