On being lost...

[Guest guest]

I have been reading the "bucket lists" with great interest. And I have noticed that very few have put an "X" on "Been lost". I found that astounding actually... As a kid in a family that moved a lot it sometimes felt like I spent half my childhood being lost... Being in a new city can do that... But perhaps it's a matter of definition? Maybe I have a wider definition on "being lost" than most of you?I especially remember two occasions, both right after we had moved to a city called Norrköping, when I was 10. The first was when I had lived there a day or two, and my class was supposed to go swimming. A couple of other kids promised me to let me tag along with them to the public swimming center, but somewhere around halfway they got tired of walking (because of my balance issues, due to my preterm birth, I can't ride a bike, never could), and decided to get on their bikes and take off, hence leaving me behind. I spent about half an hour trying to find the swimming center on my own (there was not really anyone to ask, as it was the time of day when every adult was either at work or at home, and every kid was in school), without succeeding. Finally I figured that I could keep wandering around looking for a swimming center for the rest of my life (that was what it felt like at least...), or I could head home while I could still find my way there at least, and decided on the latter.The next day in school our teacher told me that while it was wrong of the others to leave me behind, it was also wrong of me to "pretend" that I couldn't find the swimming center. I insisted that I honestly couldn't find it. She said that was not possible, as "Everyone knows where the swimming center is". I asked her if she really believed that every human being is born with a map of the city of Norrköping engraved in their brain, as that is the only way it could be true that "Everyone", regardless of if they ever sat foot in Norrköping before, knows where everything in Norrköping is located...I was, as a rule, a very polite and well behaved kid (and a bit brainy too...), but that didn't mean I didn't talk back to adults when they said absolutely absurd things... Eventually I came to earn the respect and affection of that teacher (too) for speaking my mind in an intelligent way when there was a need, but in the same time not being more of a pain than necessary. Teachers did tend to like me, but with her it surprised me, as she was quite a tyrant with the other kids. She could be very mean, and did even beat kids a couple of times (no it was not legal, and yes, as far as I know, the parents of that kid did report her to the police). I never really understood why I was let off for talking back to her, when the other kids were very harshly treated for less than that. As an adult, I suspect the secret was in how (arguing my case) and when (not always, but only when I really felt that it was justified) I talked back. But I am not sure.Simultaneously, the talking back I did, earned me the respect of the trouble makers in the class too. Especially after I defended one of them against unreasonable accusations from her (I told her she was not being reasonable, by demonstrating that I could, with the same logic she was using, accuse her of the same thing...).The second time was also short after we moved to Norrköping. We had lived there a few weeks, and I felt I knew my way around the city center by then. Turned out, the city center during the carnival (a sort of Mardi Gras), was another thing altogether...See what a little question about being lost can bring back...love/Reb - who is now rarely lost, thanks to GPS...