boyhood sketch 13. SPITBALLS - CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE & A WRONG CONCLUSION

Miss Laidlaw was my Grade 5 homeroom teacher. That's when it happened. Our classes rotated from homeroom to other classrooms for different subjects. It puzzled me then and puzzles me still, why adults could not take this into consideration when assessing blame for the spitballs that appeared one day on the wall of my homeroom. The spitballs were conspicuously stuck around the large wall clock in our homeroom. Miss Laidlaw fancied herself a super sloth, a Sherlock Holmes I surmise because when no one admitted to the deed, she required all of us to remove papers from our homeroom desks. She removed one spitball from the wall, unfolded the spitball and now came to each student's desk with this torn piece of paper. To my horror, upon removing papers from my desk drawer, a page had a corner ripped away. At my desk Miss Laidlaw matched her spitball to my paper. I stalwartly claimed innocence for an inordinately long period of public interrogation. Other students sat at my desk during the day I protested. We were all sent home for lunch but I was told that upon return I must confess my guilt and make an apology to my class for wasting their time. Over the lunch hour I struggled with this allegation and that afternoon to my everlasting regret I yielded to the pressure and complied with Miss Laidlaw’s demands, though I am still innocent to this day, scarred, needing therapy that will surely come too late.

IT’S AS PLAIN AS THE VERITABLE NOSE ON YOUR FACE

A NEW LEARNING
Why is it that we miss some things that should be so obvious to us?

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson went on a camping trip. After a good meal and a bottle of wine they lay down for the night, and went to sleep. Some hours later, Holmes awoke and nudged his faithful friend awake. "Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see." Watson replied, "I see millions and millions of stars." "What does that tell you?" Holmes questioned. Watson pondered for a minute. "Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Theologically, I can see that God is all powerful and that we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you?" Holmes was silent for a minute, and then spoke. "Watson, you idiot. Someone has stolen our tent."

We are presently living in a worrisome time but we may be missing the point. The Stock Market indexes are still falling. Perhaps we are mistaken about the true nature of crisis. Maybe this is not about the economy at all. The most serious issues that this world is facing may not be economic. America and Canada have been degenerating for some time into godless societies. The world economic crisis may simply be a warning that the eternal God of the universe is profoundly displeased with world ethics and morality.

Our churches are visible certainly and the US has more of them and larger churches but churches appear powerless to reverse the downward spiral and the speeding secular currents. Religion is up but morality is down. We have little impact on our societies. In fact the influence of cultures is permeating our churches so that we are seduced by the social agenda of wealth and pleasure. Our two countries are stalled in moral and spiritual crises. The only hope is a revival from God. If a spirit of holiness captivated God’s people, of how much would we all need to repent?