WORST CITIZEN AWARD. When I was a senior at Washington Park High School in Racine, I earned a unique honor. The Student Leadership Class was a laugher course in which students studied parliamentary procedure and learned the elements of good citizenship. Toward the end of the term, I got a congratulatory message from the teacher, Mrs Sawyer. She said the class had voted me Park Highs Worst Citizen along with a $.02 scholarship. She asked if I would be willing to appear personally to accept my award and deliver a brief acceptance speech. Naturally, I agreed. In a school of over 2300 pupils, it was no small distinction to be so recognized, although I felt humble and undeserving. With a class rank deep into three digits, I was ineligible for most scholarships and prizes, so I was thrilled to claim an award for which most of my classmates did not qualify. I was not enrolled in the class, so I had no chance to exert an undue influence. Sadly, I have long since lost the certificate and spent the two cents. I spoke from the heart, eloquently but without notes, so there is no record of my oration. However, I do remember the gist of it. I said that being the worst citizen was a lot like being the best citizen in an important respect: You had to commit to it and work at it. If you wanted to be an outlaw and a rebel, you had to flout conventions and violate regulations even when you didnt have a problem with them or feel like breaking them. You also had to do it to set an example for others, for the younger students coming along behind you. I still feel a weird sense of pride in that award. And maybe I flatter myself, but I like to feel that traces of the old alley cat, the old rebel, are still detectable in my elderly self. I do want to make something clear. There actually were peers who were worse citizens than I was, but they were thugs whose offenses were recognized in other, more punitive ways.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 05:43:02 +0000
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