Sister Elly Ann

Religious garb is never a guarantee Some wear robes just to look pious But they are not what they seem to be When their actions reveal what is obvious. Such is the character of that disturbed nun The principal of my daughter's high school Who went by the name of Sister Elly Ann She had the bad temper of a raging bull. One day the students were given punishment For one reason or another by this nun All the girls in one class to the streets were sent Out to walk in the seething heat of the sun In one long line walked the poor young students At the noontime heat of thirty-three degrees Around the block and then back again Until some of them fainted, some fell on their knees. When they passed our apartment I saw my daughter Her faced was flushed red from dehydration That nun met her match in this angry mother And without much ado I made my confrontation. Complaints from parents had started to pour in And this Sister Elly Ann could be sued in court So the school had no recourse but to just give in And transferred the erring nun with a bad report. This is a true story that happened in my daughter's school, College of the Holy Spirit, 1994. - Recently, a 9 year-old girl died after running three hours straight as punishment from her grandmother. Some of us fail to realize that discipline does not mean corporal punishment or physical harm. On the contrary these may produce hostility and bring doubts in the mind of the child as to adult's responsibility and the child's self worth.