Rita's Reflections: Good Willa Hunting wants to learn

My pal Brittany compared my curiosity to learn to Matt Damon’s character in the movie “Good Will Hunting.” Not that I am a handsome genius working as a janitor at MIT. Or someone who can solve complicated math equations on a blackboard. Words are my thing. Not numbers.

Now retired Summerfield teacher Ms. Sue Loy wrote in the margin of one of my test papers that I should be a math teacher. Impossible. Math muddles my brain. It creates confusion seeing letters of the alphabet mixing it up with numbers inside parentheses. And the only pi in my vocabulary is, “What kind?”

Unlike Will, I have never been in trouble with the law. I did get a speeding ticket once. It was after working a long, 10-hour shift. Unfortunately, the officer didn’t buy the excuse that my husband is irresistible and therefore all his fault. Talk about spoiling the mood. Not to mention the stiff penalty I had to pay. My lead foot cost me $110!

What Brittany meant was anyone can learn, on the cheap at a library. My favorite part is when Will tells an arrogant yuppie that his Ivy League education could have been paid for with a library fine. Not literally of course. But in that regard, good or not, I do have a Willa Hunting approach to learning. Ironically, Willa was my nickname and the name on my motorcycle vanity plate for years.

Talking with another young woman, Jamie and I touched upon student loan forgiveness. We both feel wiping the slate clean sends the wrong message to those who worked to avoid taking on debt, like Jamie and many other students did. Sometimes working two jobs to pay for books and tuition.

Like many others, I am concerned about the talk of banning books and closing library resources in schools. School libraries are being phased out along with teaching cursive. I have yet to talk to a parent that favors either of those decisions. More of us fear those pushing suppressive motives than any book in print. Books are intended to inform and make a person think. If someone doesn’t want me to read something, chances are I probably should.

Some believe sexual preference is a choice. Or that it can be swayed. My buddy Freddy doesn't think either is true. Now in his 60s, Freddy was only attracted to little boys when he was 5. Many children are aware they are “different” by the age of 4. Imagine feeling that way, without the support of your own flesh and blood. Our youth seek answers at a library because they are often too afraid to talk with their parents. Some parents make their thoughts perfectly clear about “those” kinds of people when their child is “that” kind of person.

Freddy also pointed out the ones who protest the most about what is sexually acceptable and what is not already have what makes them happy. And there seems to be some truth to Freddy's belief that some folks who target certain groups often hide closeted feelings to fit in and appear "normal."

Women fawned over Bruce Jenner. Men wanted to be Bruce Jenner. I cannot fathom looking like Bruce Jenner and feeling like a woman named Chelsea on the inside. How unsettling that must be – not having the body parts your brain feels you should. Even at the height of my tomgirl days, I never wanted to be anything but a girl. I wasn’t a dummy. I liked boys. Playing with them meant being around them. I think that’s pretty smart on my part.

My faith will never believe that when it comes to being made in God’s image, there are free passes for some and asterisks for others. Right now, I am more concerned with the image God sees in me. I sure hope He likes what He sees.

Rita Wyatt Zorn is a wife, mother, grandmother and lifetime Monroe County resident. She can be reached at 7.noniez@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Rita Wyatt Zorn: Good Willa Hunting wants to learn