Permanent Record

From elementary school to high school, the threat that scared me more than any other was the PERMANENT RECORD. Our teachers warned us that if we did not behave, our misbehavior would be put on our PERMANENT RECORD. Even more terrifying was that
my PERMANENT RECORD followed me everywhere.

Recently I went into the Records Department of my employer and asked to see MY PERMANENT RECORD." They looked at me as if I was crazy. I am not sure at all where my PERMANENT RECORD stopped. Was it in high school? Was it in college?

I thought that my PERMANENT RECORD was a large chart with JANA RUTH'S PERMANENT RECORD written on the top with everything I had ever done wrong written on it. I thought that probably my PERMANENT RECORD was just for school, but I wasn't sure. I hoped so, because during school I never misbehaved, but at home, that at times was a different story.

How did my PERMANENT RECORD get transferred from one teacher to another? I figured out that at the end of the year, under armed guards the records were transferred from your last teacher to the next. It had to be done during the cover of darkness and everyone had to wear gloves. There were only two people at one time that knew what your PERMANENT RECORD contained. Your last teacher and the next teacher.

We all knew kids that must have very bad PERMANENT RECORDS. They were always getting in trouble. And we all knew that any future for them was void. No college would take them, and forget getting a job, and for sure it won't be a good job. Many times I thought that maybe my thoughts might even make my PERMANENT RECORD. So I tried to even watch my thoughts.

Now I am sure teachers don't have the PERMANENT RECORD to threaten kids with. I think I most have lived in the good old days, because not only did we have the threat of the PERMANENT RECORD. We, also, had the atomic bomb that might drop on our heads. It is very lucky that at least we had DUCK AND COVER.

Jana Ruth
Author of "Laugh and Live Happier: P.L.A.Y.S. for Life
www.janaruth.biz
www.laughandlivehappier.com
www.laughingworld.blogspot.com