I was teaching Elie Wiesel’s autobiography, Night, to my students. We were discussing the idea of being dehumanized, as the Nazis had done to their prisoners. My students were coming up with the most fabulous examples of dehumanization: slavery, forced labor, starvation, loss of name. And then: plastic surgery. Wha?
In the back of my mind I thought maybe I knew where he was coming from, but I was also scared that I knew where he was coming from. So, I wanted to know if he knew where he was coming from. I asked him to elaborate.
“You know, when people get plastic surgery and they don’t look like a person anymore. They’re dehumanized.”
Mmmm. No. “Not quite.”
We moved on. My students kept coming up with the most amazing examples. They were making me so proud (mind you, this is the poopy class, so the fact that they were coming up with these examples was making me SO PROUD!).
We seemed to be winding down with ideas. I asked if anyone had anything else. And he raises his hand. “Yes?”
“I just want to go back to plastic surgery…”
And then, my class came to the rescue. “No!”
Deep breath. Thank you, kids, thank you.
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