Who are the main characters? Wing Biddlebaum (a.k.a. Adolph Myers), and George Willard

What do you know about the topic/story you are reading? I do not know much about this time. I believe this time involved an explosive growth of industry and surrounding that growth was a distrust of by the common man.

What can you imagine that is not specifically outlined? I can imagine the internal turmoil of Mr. Biddlebaum. His physical oddities of shaking, hands hidden, etc. clearly were manifested by this comment of “keep your hands to yourself.” However, mentally he did not know the whole meaning behind this statement, so he must have been struggling his whole life to come to terms with what happened and why? He never really knew why he was forced to change his life and lose his passion and dream of teaching. He only knew he could not be who he was, without knowing why? This mental torture must have been extremely difficult to overcome and had to leave him wondering why he even gets out of bed each day. He must have felt like half a person or even another person without his being able to following his passion and to constantly be holding back because of fear.

What do you think about what you read? I did not take this story as Mr. Biddlebaum was a sexual predator or sexual deviant. Instead, I thought this was a man who connected with people through contact with them, granted his contact was excessive but I did not take it as anything with alternative motives behind his actions. I probably took it this way because I have known a few people in life who were like this, overly touchy. For example, I had one friend that every single time he talked to you he had to touch you, like a slap on the arm, or a yeah you poke to the shoulder, nothing perverted or inappropriate, but definitely annoying. So based on this approach to Mr. Biddlebaum I thought about Mr. Biddlebaum’s lost life. I mean, he clearly enjoyed teaching and had a passion for it. Teaching others to dream and better themselves seemed to give him life and confidence. So it was sad that something he enjoyed and appeared to be good at was taken from him and he was reduced to being an empty shell of his former self.

How do you feel about what you read? What is your emotional response? I was conflicted, angry, and sad. The confliction comes from Mr. Biddlebaum’s former self where he touched people and rubbed heads as a way to connect and reach them. While I understand his motives to connect to others I can see the conflict here, because I am someone who values my “personal space.” I do not like others to touch me, or to invade my space by getting to close to me, it makes me uncomfortable. I was put off at the stories told by the “half-witted boy” that sent the town on a frenzy. The frustration comes from the fact that anyone can make something up about another person and it becomes their word against yours. To make it worse if the person telling the story happens to be a child, people tend to believe everything children say as the whole truth. In this story we never know for sure whether Mr. Biddlebaum desired young boys or if his inappropriate actions were just misunderstood? However, the counter argument is that we have to protect the children so where do we draw the line or discover the truth in what they say? Of course, the seemingly sad part, depending on how you interpreted his actions (which again I took them as misunderstood not perverted), is that Mr. Biddlebaum had his life destroyed by exaggerated or misinterpreted accusations and there was no action to seek or prove the truth. What the children said was not 100% false he did rest his hand on them but they also were not 100% accurate in their portrayal which made it seem like he touched them inappropriately in a sexual way. So I was torn between several emotions as stated above as I read this story.

What do you want to learn more about? I would like for Mr. Biddlebaum to understand better why he was beaten up and chased out of town to see if he would understand their concern of his touching behavior? Would he be able to adapt his approach and still get his message across and enjoy his teaching or can he only make a connection or get his message through by touching? What are Mr. Biddlebaum’s thoughts if he knew the truth?

Think about the experiences you have just read about. How would you react if these events happened to you? I would be shaken like Mr. Biddlebaum. He did not know the extent of what the children were saying behind his back to their parents. So when the parents came after him he was confused, scared, and fled with no answers. He did not have a chance to explain his side of the story or to defend his name he just knew his hands were involved but not the whole story behind his hands. So for him to be a recluse and to pull back from society is probably how I would react as well. I would be searching for the answers in my mind but left forever changed by the past.

How does this reading relate to your own life? It is significant in that you cannot be too careful in this day and age. It seems more and more people are looking for reasons to file lawsuits or to go after another person or their employer. So to protect yourself a person really has to watch what they say, how they say it, and be very aware of their actions. Touching a student to say good job can be taken by the student as a sexual gesture. Also related to the boy’s dreams and comments, in today’s time this type of story really hits on the hot buttons of today’s technology craze. Anyone can post a comment about you on social media and that statement is left for interpretation by the reader to take the message anyway they want. People post stories everyday with no truth, little truths, or half truths but other’s reading it might take it as 100% factual truths. This creates sticky situations and cases where people’s reputations and lives are ruined by someone’s one-off comment. It should serve as a reminder for all of us to think before posting, because once it is out there it is near impossible to take it back. Also it should remind us if something is posted to take it with a grain of salt and seek out the truth, don’t just assume everything you read is 100% accurate and forthcoming. In today’s society people are found guilt first and they have to prove their innocence, versus being innocent until proven guilty.