Mrs. Karen sat at her desk and listened to her class debate the topics she gave them just ten minutes ago. “People who kill other people are anathemas; everybody hates them.” A young student, Lana, stated boldly; she was a very egregious girl. Mrs. Karen thought perhaps Lana would be the brave and curious one to ask the teacher what her opinions were. She had promised them she would abatetheir homework over the year if they participated in the class discussions; she was glad to see her plan worked. Mrs. Karen smiled softly at one of the young girls in the group discussing the death penalty; Sarah was always irresolute.

She spoke up for the second time today, but like last time, she spoke softly, “I think things against God’s commandments should be illegal, unless it’s not right for the situation.”

Lana replied quickly, “Sarah, you equivocated again. Speak your thoughts clearer, or wait for them to be more organized-”

“Well,” Caroline interrupted Lana but spoke calmly and respectively, “our thoughts and opinions are nebulous right now because we don’t have enough information yet.”

Lana pouted momentarily because of Caroline’s interruption, but nodded her head in agreement. Their group was quiet for only a moment until another thought struck Lana’s head. “But I still believe anyone who wants to kill someone else for any reason is culpable.” Mrs. Karen wondered who would ask her about her opinions; surely one student, if not more, was curious to know how the teacher felt.

Mrs. Karen turned her attention to the next group; they were discussing the rights and wrongs of idol worship and why it was right or wrong. “Adulation of anything but God is wrong; that should be common sense.” Kari stated strongly. Mrs. Karen was surprised to hear this statement come from Kari; she knew the young teenage girl liked Tyler, the extremely religious boy that happened to be in the same group as Kari, but Mrs. Karen had never heard such a strong assertion from Kari before. Mrs. Karen smiled in her mind; perhaps Kari was secretly astute in her way of flirting, since what she said was obviously pretentious. She noticed the other students in the group began asking Kari about the things she owned and said she loved; Mrs. Karen could see her blushing from across the room.

Mrs. Karen didn’t think the students in this group were mentally questioning her opinions on the topics, so she turned her attention to the last group, the one that was discussing money value in the religious area of life. They had agreed earlier that having avaricewas not something highly looked upon in many religions, so they decided it was not very valuable in the religious world.

The thirty-two year old teacher knew the class had a suppositionthat she would give more information to the class about all three topics and recapitulate the lesson after their discussion and tell them if they were right and wrong; she also knew some of the students thought she was a dilatory person, since she always had the class discuss things before presenting information to them. However the truth was that she enjoyed listening to her class discuss things without her intervening, and this time, she couldn’t tell them if they were right and wrong. It was all their choices and their feelings. And she was waiting to see which student was curious enough to ask her what her opinions were.

She finally felt it was time to speak to her class. “Alright, turn your desks around and listen carefully.” Many students began to quickly turn their desks around and some put their heads on their desks but kept eye contact with the teacher. She smiled, “since you are all like novices in learning how to form your own opinions on important matters such as these, I want you to go home tonight and research and write a report on what you found. I don’t want slovenly completed reports.”

“What do should we look up, Mrs. Karen?” Lana asked impatiently.

“Either the topic you were just discussing or do a report on children in the world living in penury.” The bell rang and the students left. All but one; Marcie fell asleep in class again.

Mrs. Karen packed her things slowly, thinking about Marcie. She had black hair and always wore dark clothes to school, she tended to keep to herself and she was usually torpid in class. Mrs. Karen could tell when Marcie was day dreaming; she would look at the wall she sat next to and her eyes would lose their focus and it was as if Mrs. Karen could see Marcie’s evanescent thoughts.

Only a minute had passed since the bell rang; Marcie wouldn’t be late for any class because this was the last class of the day. Mrs. Karen walked over to Marcie’s desk and gently resuscitated her.

“I apologize, Mrs. Karen,” Marcie mumbled, blinking her eyes, “I haven’t been able to sleep very well at home.”

“Well, I’m sorry you’re not getting a good night’s sleep, but you may have to try a little harder to get that sleep at home, okay? I don’t want to fail you.”

Marcie smiled faintly and it barely lasted a full second. She sluggishly grabbed her back pack, stood, and began walking towards the door. Mrs. Karen swung her purse up her arm and onto her shoulder and picked up the folder of papers on her desk and turned to leave the classroom when she saw Marcie standing at the door, looking down.

“Marcie, are you alright?”

She looked up, a little sad but extremely thoughtful, “Mrs. Karen, what do you think of the death penalty?”

This surprised Mrs. Karen; she didn’t think this would come from Marcie. She seemed too shy of a girl, and she was sleeping during the class, how did she know what her group was discussing? “I’m not really sure, Marcie, I can’t make a true opinion about it because for each case it’s different in my opinion. Why?”

Marcie grimaced a little, looked down and began walking slowly. “My dad’s on death row.”