THE SCHOOLMASTER

The Schoolmaster

The schoolmaster is dying. But he's in denial. The story is seen mostly through the schoolmaster's point of view. He keeps hearing people tell him he is ill and he doesn't understand it. He's convinced himself he was ill and now he's recovered but still weak.

Denial is very strong and people hear and think only what they choose to. The story illustrates this point to an extreme. But we have denial all around us. From failed politicians to aging athletes.

One of my favorite examples of denial occurred in a comedy club. The comedian told the most lame jokes I'd ever heard. I vaguely remember one of them being about Elizabeth Taylor. Nobody laughed. He bombed. I was sitting near the exit of the stage when the comedian came off the stage and all he did was complain about the crowd. It's wasn't his pathetic attempt at humor that was the problem but the thickness of the crowd. We all do denial in one form of another.

The schoolmaster looks in the mirror and doesn't see himself with sunken cheeks and dark circles under his eyes and when he is finally confronted with the truth at the party he becomes despondent for a while but then he convinces himself he is not seriously ill.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her book, On Death and Dying, describes the five stages of dying. They start with denial, then anger, then bargaining, depression and finally acceptance. The schoolmaster needs to work fast to get through these stages because the doctors think he's only got a week left to live.