Like Paperclips on the Floor

Like Paperclips on the Floor        

Walking down the hallway I know all too well on the second-floor, east side, as I pass all my friends, most of whom I have known for many years, I begin to enter my last class of the day on a Friday afternoon. 10^th grade social studies, America post world war two to present day. After finally finishing our economics unit that seemed to last a decade, we were finally starting the actual history in our history class. I noticed something odd as I approached the door. The lights were out, and my teacher was standing outside the class with a large box of paperclips. He made the hallway surrounding his door silent as he waited through the five-minute passing period for all his students to arrive. David Greenockle is his name, this was the beginning of class that would soon change my life and he was the most impactful teacher I have ever encountered.

                As we entered the room, he handed us each one single paperclip and had us stand silently in a circle around the edges of the square cinderblock room. A song to which I can’t not remember the tune was playing but it was loud. Not too loud that you couldn’t hear the person on the other side of the room but much louder than the Lumineers music he usually has playing in the background through class.

                The second bell finally rang, and the passing period was over. Greenockle, that’s what we called him, quietly shut the door and let the rest of the song play as he started to speak about D-day. He spoke powerfully and impactfully, like I had never heard any teacher stand before me and speak. He spoke about the lives that were taken on this day. How American men stood up in front of hundreds of obstacles that lie ahead in order to put an end to genocide, to torture, to rape, and to killing of innocent people. How these young men swam through the blood of their brothers up the beaches of Normandy in order to reach land in hopes of saving the innocent.

                I won’t try to repeat his words because I could try and try, and I will never be able to do his words justice. He spoke so eloquently and beautifully that he caused my mindset to change completely. Regardless of whatever facts on why the United States actually entered WWII are irrelevant because his impact was on the lives of the men who fought for us. No politics, just brave men standing up and fighting for their country in order to save the lives of those held up by the Nazis.

                Eventually, the paperclips came up and he asked us all to put our paperclips down in a pile in the center of the floor. 32 paperclips in a small pile lay on the tile. He then dumped his huge box of paperclips down on top of ours. “Each paperclip,” he said, “is one life.” Greenockle had counted out each American life lost on that day and gave a paperclip to his box for each one. Thousands of paperclips now lay on the floor in a pile. Something about physically seeing those numbers in objects made me realize the actual amount of life that took. Hearing about people dying in tragedies and wars is always astonishing but to physically see and touch those lives in the form of objects completely changed me.

                As the 55 minutes began to run out, his final remarks sum up the purpose of his introduction to the end of WWII. His purpose was not to sadden us about the loss of life, it was to explain American culture. The amount of people to would lay down their lives to support their country and why. He wanted us to understand that on this day, the reputation of the United States changed forever. That we showed we would no longer tolerate the horrors of the Nazis and we wouldn’t stand for the injustice that any ruler may put upon his people. He wanted us to be able to see how many countries viewed America. Not just the savior of the war but the holy grail for the world. He wanted us to understand the impact of one day and how life today would not be the same without all of the paperclips dropped to the floor.

                This lesson was just the start of many life changing lessons this man would soon teach me. His class shaped my entire world view and I truly would not be the same person I am today without it. He bi-partisanly showed us the complexities of global studies and the effects on everything we do today. This first lesson was only the start. Ever since, I have been able to look at these death toll numbers as not just statistics on a page but real people, human lives, that are being lost for a cause as paperclips scattered on the floor.