THE Issue
Edgar Mangum, now retired from teaching, had spent a lifetime committed to the cardinal virtues of self-respect and integrity of mind. His Granddaughter, Virginia "Ginny" Mangum, was a bright, vivacious teenager who now attends Park High School--the same place her Grandfather taught for thirty years. Between the two of them there exists a bond which defies the differences in their respective ages.
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"Gran'pa," she said plaintively, "can I talk with you about something?"
"'Course, Ginny," Grandpa Mangum said, looking up at his Granddaughter over his bifocals.
"It's actually,..." she paused, unsure of herself, "kind of hard to talk about." Ginny spoke softly, with uncharacteristic shyness.
"Come now. How long have we known each other?" Grandpa Mangum asked, looking his granddaughter squarely in the eye.
"I know...I know...I've always been able to talk with you...a whole lot easier than talking with my parents!"
"Now, Ginny, don't be too hard on your Mom and Dad...remember no one ever has any experience for being parents...and suddenly they have all that responsibility; and nothing to rely upon for guidance. I at least have the perspective given by my own mistakes as a parent!"
"Oh, Gran'pa, you have a way of making it possible to talk about things!"
Grandpa Mangum laughed and made a characteristic gesture coaxing his granddaughter to speak what was on her mind.
"I'm getting a lot of pressure from my boyfriend to have sex," she said unabashedly, grateful to have the subject out in the open at last.
"Thought so," Grandpa Mangum said..."a tough issue for kids nowadays."
Ginny merely nodded, obviously ensnared by her own thoughts.
"Well, Ginny," her grandfather said with obvious compassion, "how do you really feel about it?"
"To tell the truth, I'm confused, Gran'pa. Part of me really wants to do it, b-u-t,..."she paused.
"But you have doubts."
"Exactly!"
"Certainly understandable. There are a lot of dangers," Grandpa Mangum said somewhat self-consciously. "The matters of pregnancy...disease...they are certainly enough to give you pause to..."
"Yeah," Ginny cut in, "but that's not even the main thing!"
With a twinkle in his eye, Edgar Mangum asked: "which is?"
"How I'll feel about myself if I do it!"
"That is the real issue! Sounds as though you are unsure about it."
Ginny merely nodded.
"Well, if that is the case, you probably shouldn't do it. You should keep your own counsel."
"I know,...but it's hard with the peer pressure and all."
"A subtle form of tyranny, peer pressure, but it's tyranny all the same," Grandpa Mangum said matter of factly.
His granddaughter stared at him with a mixture of surprise and respect. She didn't know what to say, so she got up, wrapped her arms around his tired shoulders, hugged him briefly, and darted from the room.
Edgar Mangum heaved a quiet sigh of relief. "Now," he said to himself, "I won't have to try to explain the abstract concept 'integrity of mind' to her,...she fully understands it,...and, hopefully, will live it!"
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The moon shown diffidently upon the two young people seated together on the long jetty leading out into sparkling waters.
"Ginny," her boyfriend, Eddie Albright, said after a long pause.
"Huh," Ginny responded absently.
"Don't you want to have sex?"
"Sure I do, Eddie, but I'm not comfortable with it now. I think we should wait."
"Wait?" Eddie asked, a tincture of disbelief coating the word. "Why everybody's..."
"That's just it! I don't want to do it just because 'everybody' else is doing it."
"Gosh, Ginny, I..."
"I'm somebody," her voice resounded with obvious conviction..."when I think it's the right thing to do, I'll do it...and not a single moment before."
Eddie Albright looked at his girlfriend with an even greater feeling of respect than he had previously. He said softly: "I admire your decision,..." then added almost parenthetically, "and it will mean more because of that."
The young adults clasped hands and, smiling lovingly at each other, turned their steps happily toward the future.