The Man Who Threw The American Flag In the Trash Can
My 11th grade teacher, Robert Hoderny changed my thinking
Robert Hoderny, one of my many great high school teachers, threw the American flag in the trash can one class. One of my fellow students got up and pulled it out. But he threw it in the trash again.
He also burned money in class. Twenty dollar bills. More than once.
He stood up on the top of his desk at times like Robin Williams would later do in the film, Dead Poets Society.
He always made his point.
His class was called Social Justice. It was described as a “religion” class at my high school, Archbishop Carroll High School, in Washington D.C. All students at the then all boys high school steeped in the Augustinian Order had to take his class as part of the religion requirements.
His course topics: Mahatma Gandhi and non-violence. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Vietnam War. War. Poverty. Racism. Nuclear War.
Robert Hoderny like my parents, like my siblings, and like the people of my community and city in Washington D.C. shaped my thinking about the world. But, Hoderny shaped my thinking most of all about America and patriotism.
