An interesting thing happened in class today...

There was a minor incident right before class began this morning. Actually, it was so minor it really doesn't bear worth mentioning, but it struck me as strange. In fact, so odd I decided to write about it and maybe get some feed back from you:

Students were filtering into the class, no prof yet. One student, a woman (she looks to be a few years older than me) walked in holding up a textbook for this class and loudly announced she found it outside the door. The young girl sitting one seat over on my right put up her hand and said, "Oh that's mine, oh I'm sorry! Oh thank you so much!"

The woman (whom neither of us know because she sits on the other side of the classroom) walked up to where the girl was sitting and slammed the book on the table in front of the girl. She slammed so hard that I, the girl, and at least 3 other students sitting around us jumped. The woman continued to walk to the far end of the table where she usually sits, looked at the students on that end and loudly proclaimed, "Once a mother, always a mother" then sat down. I watched the girl sitting next to me-she put her head down and didn't look back up. I waited a few minutes and asked the girl if she was ok. She said yes, and that she also heard the woman's statement after. I reassured her that not all mothers are like that, and that the woman's response was probably more about her and not about the girl. The girl smiled at me, said thank you, and the professor walked in.

This just keeps bugging me! I thought about myself, what kind of mother I am, not to mention how I treat others around me. In class, it's natural for me to lend a pen or paper, or stapler. I even gave a young man a cough drop once. If I found a book outside the door, I'd bring it in, find out who it belonged to and say, "here you go sweetie." (yes, I do say sweetie to the young students-especially if I don't remember their names).

Then again, there are times when I am...well...impatient. You know those times: like being in a hurry and wanting to drive 70 on the freeway when every other car is driving 60 and you can't get around them and you get impatient (well, I do). Do I really want them hearing what I'm saying to them? (Olga would be laughing at me right now because she knows what I'm saying and she just tells me to relax and don't worry. We'll get there when we get there.)

But the point is: Do I want them hearing what I'm saying? Should I be saying what I'm saying? Do I want to turn into that woman?

I definitely don't think I'm that kind of mom. AND I don't want to be that kind of person.