I walked into my high school freshman English class. I noticed no one else had arrived yet, and I turned toward the black board. My eyes widened as I noticed that someone had written, in large capital letters, “FUCK,” across the length of the board.
Embarrassed by this “naughty” word prominently displayed for all to see, I scurried over and erased the profanity. I couldn’t believe someone would write that on the board where everyone could see. It made me uncomfortable, so I erased it.
I sat down in my chair and smugly thought I had saved the day. I had saved my teacher the hassle of finding out who the anonymous scandal who jokingly wrote “FUCK” on the blackboard was and saved her the hassle of writing him or her up. I had saved my classmates from the uncomfortable feeling of finding that naughty word so prominently written on the board.
The rest of my classmates filed into the room and my teacher, Mrs. Witucki, followed. Class started. Mrs. Witucki turned to the board, picked up a piece of chalk, and, in large capital letters, wrote “FUCK” across the length of the board.
We were in the middle of reading J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. Mrs. Witucki had written “FUCK” on the board and then left the room, hoping to create a situation in which we had to react to an anonymous obscenity, much like Holden Caulfield does in the novel.
Anyone who has read The Catcher in the Rye remembers Holden’s personal crusade to erase all of the “Fuck you” signs in the world. In the most famous, and controversial, line in the book he realizes that “if you had a million years to do it in, you couldn’t rub out even half the ‘Fuck you’ signs in the world.”
For a moment, put yourself in Holden’s shoes, but let all of the anonymously written “Fuck you” signs written in the world represent all anonymously written offensive words or messages, like anonymously written publications on our own campus.
These writings are written with conviction by someone concerned enough to write anything down about something. They make those reacting to it uncomfortable, embarrassed and maybe even ashamed for those who wrote it. Our first reaction is to erase it.
But if you keep on reading The Catcher in the Rye you will come to this passage spoken by Holden’s old English teacher: “The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.”
When I saw the word “FUCK” written on the board, I immediately assumed it was the work of some cocky prankster looking for trouble.
Mrs. Witucki hardly fit that description. I soon started to blush, realizing that I had fallen into some trap. I felt like some socially conditioned robot, embarrassed by a word deemed socially unacceptable.
I also soon realized that by erasing “FUCK” from the board, I had ruined my classmates chance to react. I had taken away their opportunity to walk into the classroom, look at the usually clean blackboard and see the word “FUCK” written in all its glory. I had thought that by erasing “FUCK” I had saved them from the embarrassment and shock of reading something that made them uncomfortable. In actuality, I had robbed them of an important learning experience.
