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41 " The imprint of Dachau branded me indelibly and caused me to suffer the miscarriage of my hopeful philosophy. If man was good, then Dachau could never have happened. Simple as that. "
― Pat Conroy , The Water is Wide
42 " Sweet little Jesus, I thought, as I weaved between the desks, these kids don’t know crap. "
43 " By not being able to tell me anything about themselves, they were telling me everything. "
44 " I could hear some white voice coming from some collective unconscious deep within me saying, “They don’t know any better. They are happy this way.” Yet all around me, in the grinning faces of my students, I could see a crime, so ugly that it could be interpreted as a condemnation of an entire society, a nation be damned, a history of wickedness—these children before me did not have a goddam chance of sharing in the incredible wealth and affluence of the country that claimed them, a country that failed them, a country that needed but did not deserve deliverance. "
45 " I learned that politicians are not supposed to help people. They simply listen to people, nod their heads painfully, commiserate at proper intervals, promise to do all they can, and then do nothing. "
46 " Mrs. Brown, whose primary job on the island "
47 " interbred "
48 " Slowly, the awareness came to me that no matter what happened, my struggles and efforts could not eradicate the weight and inalienable supremacy of two hundred years: the children of slaves could not converse or compete with the offspring of planters, the descendants of London barristers, the progeny of sprawling, upward-climbing white America. And slavery was still a reality, considering that none of my students grew up in homes where books flourished, where ideas fluttered, and theories dwelt comfortably in dinner-table discussions. "
49 " Yet all around me, in the grinning faces of my students, I could see a crime, so ugly that it could be interpreted as a condemnation of an entire society, a nation be damned, a history of wickedness—these children before me did not have a goddam chance of sharing in the incredible wealth and affluence of the country that claimed them, a country that failed them, a country that needed but did not deserve deliverance. "
50 " Teaching is a record of failures. But the glory of teaching is in the attempt. "
51 " So despite my impulses for survival and despite my absolute knowledge that people do not like to be faced with the cold, ugly deathbed of truth, I abandoned myself to those passions that rumbled below the surface. On June 30, 1970, before mother, wife, and friends, Conrack let the bastards have it. "
52 " My mother yelled at Piedmont several times, much to my keen embarrassment. (Mothers have no sense of restraint when it comes to the honor of their children "
53 " I saw the necessity of living and accepting bullcrap in my midst. It was everywhere. In teachers’ manuals, in the platitudes muttered by educators, in school boards, in the community, and most significantly, in myself. "
54 " I lacked diplomacy and would not compromise. To survive in the future I would have to learn the complex art of ass-kissing, that honorable American custom that makes the world go ’round. Survival is the most important thing. As a bona fide ass-kisser, I might lose a measure of self-respect, but I could be teaching and helping kids. As it is, I have enough self-respect to fertilize Yankee Stadium, but I am not doing a thing for anybody. I could probably still be with the Yamacraw kids had I conquered my ego. "
55 " You are just lazy, lazy, and lazy people just can’t get ahead in life. Of course some of you are even retarded, and that is even worse than being lazy. But we know you can’t help being retarded. "
56 " Stone’s powers of description were excellent. "
57 " I also saw that Piedmont and Bennington were not evil men. They were just predictably mediocre. Their dreams and aspirations had the grandeur, scope, and breadth of postage stamps. "
58 " not being able to tell me anything about themselves, they were telling me everything. "
59 " pervasive part of the island culture "
60 " Sensing that Mrs. Brown was preparing to launch a verbal grenade but not knowing exactly how to divert the attack, I simply shrugged my shoulders and prepared for the worst. "