Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

There are several places I can always find an interesting person for an interesting and educational conversation. One is outside any neighborhood elementary school.

My grandfather on my mother’s side outlived his wife by 20 years or so. That was and still is unusual. After a year alone, he needed a reason to wake in the morning.

He found a job at a school crossing. For about 20 years, he woke in the morning, had breakfast, shaved, dressed, put on a “uniform,” and went to an elementary school. When children came to the street crossing, he pressed the button on the traffic light pole. When the lights changed and the safe-to-walk signal lit, he walked out into the street so the children could cross.

After morning duty, he went home, ate lunch, took a nap, and went back to the school for the afternoon session. He did this everyday for about 20 years without missing a single day to illness or doctor’s appointment or anything. A generation of children needed him, and he needed them.

And he always had time to speak with the children and with any adult who wanted to learn about life and raising children (he had raised six children in poverty—never knew there was a depression at the time).

There is a woman who does this job at the elementary school a few blocks from my home. Everyday—morning and evening—she stands at a corner wearing her uniform and holding a stop-yield sign. She helps children and parents cross the street. She knows the name of every parent, student, and sibling that crosses at her corner everyday. She never misses for illness or anything else. I think she needs the children as much as they need her.

This past week I was in Louisiana for the holidays. I went running each morning and met a gentlemen wearing a uniform, holding a stop-yield sign, and helping parents, children, and siblings cross the street.

I stopped. We had an interesting conversation. I learned much.

Do you want to have an interesting conversation with an interesting person and learn a few things? Go to a neighborhood elementary school. There will be a crossing guard somewhere there. They will be happy to oblige.