When an American teacher at a Manhattan school named a teddy bear Moses, one of her young students told her parents about the affair. They immediately called the principal who was running the school, who quickly called several teachers and parents to discuss the situation.
A course of action was determined and the next day the principal went to the teacher’s classroom.
“I understand you named a teddy bear Moses.” she asked.
“Yes, I did,” she replied. “Did I do something wrong?”
“She did not do it!” a boy called.
“All he did was ask us to name him,” chimed in a third student.
“My name is Moses, so I suggested the name,” admitted a third boy. “I like that the teddy bear has my name on it.”
“Will I be flogged and jailed?” the teacher wanted to know.
“Why?” he asked himself, fortunately being an enlightened director. “I think naming him Moses is cute.”
“You do?” she asked.
“Of course,” he replied. “Also the teachers and parents I talked to.”
“Wow,” the teacher pointed out, “how different from being a teacher in Sudan!”
“Obviously very different,” he agreed. “I’m sure you and your students think a lot about the name Moses or you wouldn’t have chosen it.”
“That’s how it is!” the boy named after the teddy bear volunteered.
“We call him Mo for short,” said another boy.
“Month?” the manager asked.
“I’m afraid so,” the teacher admitted.
“Don’t worry,” he told her. “I know a lot of men named Moses who are called Mo. I even have an Uncle Mo. So this is what I’ve decided on. You obviously know how to get kids involved. So I’m giving you a raise.”
“Oh thank you,” she said. “But the kids deserve it as much as I do.”
“No, you take it,” insisted a student.
“But are you sure I deserve it?” he asked the director. “We all know that the teacher in Sudan didn’t get a raise.”
“Yes, we do,” he acknowledged.
“And, if a teacher at a Christian school asked her children to name a teddy bear, and they chose ‘Jesus,’ do you think she would get a raise?” the professor speculated.
“Well, I could,” the principal decided, “especially if I was teaching in a school with a lot of Hispanic kids, since a lot of them are named Jesus.”
“But get a raise?”
“I have no way of knowing,” the director told him. “However, I’m relatively sure they wouldn’t flood her and send her to prison, especially since this is no longer the Dark Ages, at least not in the United States and much of the rest of the world.”
“But the English teacher in Sudan didn’t get a raise,” the teacher insisted.
“I think we have to leave that in the hands of the Muslims,” he replied. “Religious freedom is a mutual obligation.”
“Yes, I’m afraid so,” he admitted. “Well, at least they agreed not to search her.”
“Yes they did it.”
“And the president of Sudan released her from jail six days before her 15-day sentence was up.”
“I think we can congratulate him on that,” he agreed.
“But speaking of the matter in general, don’t you think a religion is better off when children are given reasons to like the prophet who founded it?”
“Wow, that’s exactly the conclusion we came to when I spoke to the parents of the children.”
“I’m so glad,” the teacher told him. “I am not sure that the children in Sudan, who have now lost a wonderful teacher, are so happy to play with the teddy bear they named Mohammed.”
“That is a very relevant observation,” he concluded.
Just then, a student asked, “Can we play with Moses now?”
“Of course you can,” the teacher said, handing the teddy bear to the principal. “You give it to him.”
“Thank you,” he said, “it’s a pleasure.”
When he gave it to the students, they began to hug him, kiss him and talk to him. T
The teacher looked on with a smile, as did the headmaster, who noted how much the children loved Moises and that, even when they called him Mo, he looked no worse for wear.