It was the First day of school.
But I didn’t really like school.
The classes were boring. So were my teachers.
I wished I could just stay home and play with my friends.
But my parents made me go.
There were worse things I guess...

So I loaded that stupid yellow bus.
I sat through Science. We learned about Saturn…
I had to make a diorama.
I pushed through English class. We had to write an essay…
I wrote mine about my baby sister Suzy.
And somehow I didn’t die of boredom in Algebra.
I don’t even remember what we learned in that class.

It was finally almost the end of the day.
One more hour I had to tell myself…
One more hour. Then you  can go home.
And so I walked to seventh hour: Room 103.
The sign read: Mr. Marley, Social Studies.
Great, I thought, we get to read boring history books and do worksheets…

When I walked through the door,
it was not at all like the other teacher’s classrooms.
This classroom had exotic pictures, colorful costumes,
and a shelf full of buttons in glass jars, shiny knick-knacks, and rusted tin boxes that looked older than my grandma.
And she is OLD!

I went to go and sit by my friend Michael.
We were good friends.
The bell rang and everyone took a seat.
Then Mr. Marley walked in.

When he walked in the whole room went silent.
But we didn’t go quiet because the class had started…
We went silent because of the way Mr. Marley was dressed.
He was wearing the funniest clothes I’ve ever seen!
And in his hand, he held a guitar.

He wore a rainbow-colored bow tie and bright blue flip flops.
He had on yellow shorts and red glasses.
His hair was huge!
In the whole six years, I’ve been in school,
I have never ever seen a teacher look so strange!
I almost started laughing.

I looked at Michael and whispered,
“What is he wearing?! He looks like a crazy person!”
Then Mr. Marley walked right up to my desk.
I must not have said it as quietly as I thought…

Funny looking Mr. Marley suddenly didn’t look so funny.
Needless to say I was scared.
He was tall… I wasn’t.
He was an adult… I was eleven.
He was a teacher… and I was just a student

He kneeled down right in front of me.
He leaned in so close I could see the whites of his green eyes!

“Young man, I dress this way because life is supposed to be fun. You can’t tame the lions and you’ll never catch the sun,
but you can love your neighbor and deny prejudice.”
I had no idea what he just said.
But I think he knew that I didn’t understand.
He walked to his desk where he’d set down his tainted guitar.
He picked it up and cleared his throat.
Mr. Marley looked at me and said,
“Alright class, listen up”

He placed his fingers gingerly on the strings and sang:
“ Ya ba da doo da,
   Love your neighbor and sing with me!
   You can’t fight the world
   but you can dance with me!
   Just give me your hand, we’ll walk happily.
   And love your neighbors like me! ”

He gestured for us to join him.
At first, I was very shy. I couldn’t sing.
So why would I want my class to know that?
But I don’t think he’d of ever stop singing if we hadn’t
sung with him. So I did my best and repeated the words as he sang.
I sounded like a scratchy violin.
Yet I couldn’t help but smile.

I walked with my friend Mabel-Kay to the bus stop
I told her about Mr. Marley. I told her I thought he was insane.
She looked down and bit her lip.
Mabel-Kay looked upset for some reason.
Maybe I’d said something.
I waved goodbye and got on the bus.

The next day I sat through my classes. Again…
But this time, I wasn’t dreading last hour.
I wasn’t sure if he’d sing or if he’d do something else.
But no matter what, I had a feeling it would be fun.

Seventh Hour came and Mr. Marley walked in.
He was dressed really weird again.
He cleared his throat and the class fell silent.
He said, “Okay everyone, would you all open up a notebook.”
So we did. I wasn’t sure what he had in mind.

“I need two volunteers!” smiled Mr. Marley.
I raised my hand high so I made sure Mr. Marley picked me.
He also picked my friend Mayalin.
He asked us to come up to the front of the room.
And so we did.

We both stood up there, one on either side of Mr. Marley.
He placed his huge hands on our shoulders,
He said, “Would everyone please write down the differences
between how these fine scholars look.”

That wasn’t hard.
Mayalin was a girl… I was a boy
Mayalin had long brown hair… I had short blonde hair.
Mayalin had darker skin… I was very fair.
Mayalin wore a violet dress… I wore shorts and a striped t-shirt.

Then Mr. Marley asked, “Would you all now write down how they are similar. But not just appearance this time.”
This was also very easy.

We were both smart.
We both lived in the same neighborhood.
We both loved to doodle.
We both hated math.
But a lot of people hated math.
I erased that one.
We both loved animals.

“Now hold up both papers and read them.”
Mr. Marley announced.
I read them both. I wasn’t sure what
Mr. Marley wanted me to do with them.
He said, “Do any of you think that you
look like either of these volunteers?
If you do would you raise your hand?”

I thought this was a strange question.
I don’t think that anybody looks alike.
But then Patrick raised his hand.
Everyone laughed. Patrick was known as the class clown.

But surprisingly enough, Mr. Marley played along.
He asked, “Patrick. Who do you think you look like?”
And Patrick jokingly replied, “Mayalin, Mr. Marley.
We both have the same colored clothes.
And we both have the same colored skin.”

“That’s a fair answer.” Mr. Marley wasn’t making sense.
“You both do have the same colored skin and the same colored clothes. But can you take a look at the second list.
Take a peek at what you wrote for Mayalin.
Now can you tell me if you have the same things there too?”

Patrick looked down.
“No sir.” he replied.
“That’s right. So can anybody tell me what today’s lesson is about?”
No one raised their hand.

“Today we’re going to talk about diversity.
Basically, what that means is that everyone is different.
Even if they look similar to one another,

I can guarantee that they won’t be exactly the same.
This is very important because nowadays a lot of people
jump to conclusions about one another, based on how they look,
instead of doing the right thing and getting to know them first.
You’ll be surprised with what you’ll learn.”

This kind of made sense. It reminded me of  Mabel-Kay.
Maybe I jumped to conclusions and that’s what made her upset.
But what if it was the other way around?
How can we make a person change their mind as Mr. Marley did mine?

I raised my hand to ask. “Mr. Marley,” I said, “How can we change someone else to see the right way?”

“Well my boy,” he replied, “In that case there’s not much you can do. Partly because in this beautiful world, there is no right way.
You can try to convince them of your way, but in the long run,
you may have to accept that they can have their own opinion.
Just like you have your own opinion.
But remember to love them, no matter what their beliefs.”

He pulled out his guitar and played the
song he’d played the day before.

“ Ya ba da doo da
   Love your neighbor and sing with me!
   You can’t fight the world
   but you can dance with me!
   Just give me your hand, we’ll walk happily.
   And love your neighbors like me! ”

I wasn’t so hesitant to join in this time.

I went home that day and thought long and hard about what he meant. How could someone be like that?
After a while, my head started to hurt and I decided to
just go to bed and figure it out another time.

I loved Mr. Marley’s class from that point on.
Every day we learned something new.
We learned a lot about other cultures and their traditions.

For example, in India, women dye their hands for beauty.
In Burma, women will wind brass coils around their neck to make it longer.
Some tribes in Indonesia, guys have to stick their hand into a glove full of bugs to prove they’re a man.
We learned all sorts of things I never thought could happen.
It quickly became my favorite class!

It was late March that year when we heard news
of a man named John Lasseter coming to visit our school.
Apparently he was a very successful man that the school
paid a lot of money to come and talk to us about.
Mr. Marley was very excited to meet him.

My whole lunch table couldn’t stop talking about him.
I just wanted to enjoy my grilled cheese in peace.
They could have talked about a rock they found at
recess and I would have cared more.

I decided I’d eat lunch with Mr. Marley.
He always encouraged students to spend lunch with him.
I had several times before and he always had something interesting to talk about. I packed my lunch and walked to room 103.

I walked in and set my lunch on a table.
He wasn’t there. But he was always around so I knew he’d be back soon enough. I opened my tin lunch box and dug into my grilled cheese.

I heard Mr. Marley walking down the hall.
He was talking to another teacher.
“I’m not going to. If he doesn’t like it, then so be it.
I won’t change it for one person.” I heard Mr. Marley say.
I heard the other person sharply huff.

“Mr. Marley, you have to understand how important it is that we remain presentable for our guest speaker. We paid big money for Mr. Lasseter and we won’t get bad reviews because you won’t cut your hair.” the teacher said.

Why would Mr. Marley have to cut his hair off for Mr. Lasseter?
After all, it is just hair. I thought to myself. If Mr. Marley likes it, he should keep it. Even if the other teacher is worried about her reputation. That was another word Mr. Marley had taught us. He was a good teacher and all his students loved him. Was else was there?

I decided that this time Mr. Marley would need my help.
Normally it’s the other way around.
I got up from my seat and walked to the doorway.
They both saw me right away and got really quiet.
But the other teacher wasn’t just a teacher.
It was Ms. Kopish… Our principal.

She was petite old lady
With short white hair
And black eyes that could swallow you whole.
She always gave me the willies!

I took a deep breath and said,
“Ms. Kopish,” My throat had gone completely dry, “I’m one of Mr. Marley’s students. I just wanted to say that Mr. Marley has taught us a lot this year. And in that ‘a lot’, we learned about different cultures, people from around the world; we learned that everyone is unique and has a mind of their own. We learned about diversity and empathy,”

I felt like I was a ghost, floating in the distance from my body and just hearing the words fly out of my mouth! I wasn’t trying to be mean, but something had to be said.
I pushed forward.

“We learned a bunch of big words like prejudice and acceptance.
We learned that even though we may not understand,
it’s our job to-” I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes.
Mr. Marley kneeled down the way he always did.
He looked at me with those green eyes and nodded.
“You don’t have to say anything,” He said comfortingly.

And normally I wouldn’t.
But I lifted my chin high and looked right at Ms. Kopish.
I needed to do something.

“Ms. Kopish,  Mr. Marley told us that we may not understand, but it’s our job to try.  If you’re worried about Mr. Marley ruining your reputation, that’s another word we learned from him, it kind of means your job, you truly shouldn’t,”

Mr. Marley smiled at me.
It wasn’t a forced smile like I’d so many times in so many faces.
But rather was a genuine, almost humbling, smile.
Mr. Marley was always this way. Genuine.
I continued.

“Mr. Lasseter won’t blame you for one silly looking teacher.
And if he does, he wouldn’t be worth your money.
I learned that success comes with an open mind.
So if you would, please don’t make Mr. Marley cut off his hair.”

“I agree”
“Yeah, me too!”
“Don’t make him do it, Ms. Kopish”

At that moment, Mr. Marley and I turned around to see a bunch
of his student crowded in the hallway.
They erupted in an overwhelming roar on Mr. Marley’s behalf.

After a moment, Ms. Kopish cried out,
“Alright you guys, stop!”
It was so quiet, I think even the air stopped moving.
She nodded to Mr. Marley and said,
“You can keep it,” She looked at all of us and then directly at me.
“I guess you’ve earned it,” She then turned and walked away.

Everyone started to celebrate!
We gathered around Mr. Marley and jumped for joy!
We gave high fives and big hugs.
This was the story of how I saved Mr. Marley.

The next school year Mr. Marley wasn’t teaching there.
They say he got a toe infection and had to quit.
I think that’s a stupid reason to leave.
But as Mr. Marley taught me, who am I to judge?

Maybe someday I’d understand where he learned all this.

Mr. Marley may have been the smartest…

or craziest… or most likely both teacher I’d ever met.
But in any case, he was the best and he’ll never be forgotten.

The End.