One of my favourite stories from Shockingly Close to the Truth, about Moseley's "career" as a lecturer on UFOs back in the 1960s and early 1970s:
"On one occasion, I arrived somewhere in the Bible Belt to speak at a small fundamentalist religious school. I flew in at night in a downpour. The college people picked me up at the airport, and when we arrived on campus, for some reason we had to traverse a few yards of very muddy ground. It was cold, the rain was sluicing down, and I was quickly approaching miserable. All of a sudden, I stepped into a water-filled hole several inches deep. I couldn't help blurting out, 'Jesus Christ!' Then, in an ill-considered attempt to recover the situation with a bit of humour, I sang out, 'Praise the Lord!'" (p. 198)
Perhaps I find this anecdote so amusing is because it reminds me of a somewhat similar incident from my childhood - Grade 9, junior high to be specific. One day just after the noon bell, my oldest pal and I walked into the classroom that doubled as the lunch-room for those of us who were bussed to school. We were a bit late, and the room was packed, which meant no place for us to sit. My friend's off-the-cuff, gut reaction was to say, in a voice that was perhaps a bit louder than he had intended, "Holy Cow!" Alas, the teacher in charge of the lunch-room that day was Mr. Sharma, a devout Hindu (he must have been devout, considering what followed). He heard my friend, and immediately came over, angry. The long and the short of it was that my friend ended up with detention for mocking Mr. Sharma's religion. This was ridiculous, as we had no idea Mr. Sharma was in charge of the lunchroom that day, and my friend's remark came as soon as he saw the room, without having noticed Mr. Sharma. Unfortunately for Mr. Sharma, my friend's parents didn't take guff from anyone and were rather put out by his actions. As I recall, Mr. Sharma ended up apologizing to my friend.
My friend and I are still best pals, and we still get a chuckle when we recall his innocent "Holy Cow", and the aftermath.
I almost felt sorry for Mr. Sharma, who was not well liked by students.
Almost.
Paul Kimball
No comments:
Post a Comment