Embarrassing moments often appear without a blinking light or a horn; there is no warning to brace yourself for the gut-wrenching discomfort that floods your entire body. These situations arrive with no regard for your feelings, setting or schedule. Embarrassment shows no mercy to anyone, including LHS teachers. Although bashfulness after a mistake or an event not going as planned can happen many times throughout a lifetime, there are certain childhood memories that one cannot escape. “When I was younger, during swimming
by Nicole Schmitz
lessons, we would jump off the low dive and grab onto the instructor’s arm and then swim over to the ladder,” said LHS Special Education teacher Tanya Bjerke. “I thought that it looked like something I could do. So, one time during open swim, I convinced a younger neighborhood friend to jump off the low dive and I would hold out my arm and she could grab it. However, when she did it, I ended up trying to hold her above water while I was under and we had to be rescued by the lifeguard. I was SOOO embarrassed. I don’t think I ever told my parents what happened to this day.” With the opportunity for a fun dress up day, the chance for embarrassment is not far behind. “On college alma mater spirit wear day my first year, I had just had a baby
and couldn’t fit into my spirit wear from USD, so I wore an Iowa State shirt from my friend because I wanted to wear jeans,” said LHS ELL teacher Emily Koo. “Then, a teacher who I really didn’t know well asked me some very specific questions like what dorm I lived in and my favorite professor and I just stood there like an idiot.” Along with the unfortunate event of loss for words is the pain of losing a pair of pants to a whiteboard. “About five years ago, I was teaching, and I rubbed up against the whiteboard marker tray and I caught my pants on it,” said LHS math teacher Eric Rice. “It ripped a hole from the waist of my pants down into the leg of my pants.” It is guaranteed that there is an abundance of embarrassing moments to come in your lifetime. Remember to take each one with a grain of salt, chances are you will laugh about them later.
