Did I ever tell you what happened to my fourth grade class? No, I don’t think I did; I’ve never told anyone, and I’d even forgotten myself until recently. The mind does things to protect itself from certain unpleasant facts, and forgetting is a powerful one. Some call that weakness, but I call it practical. We are not equipped to deal with enormity beyond a certain scale. Just as we cannot see things that are too small, we are unable to take in things that are too big. Until we are confronted with them directly. So it was with me.

I’ll tell you now, while the memory is still sharp.

In the fourth grade I was an active boy. Not one for academics, I was a thoroughly indifferent student. I lived for recess and sometimes for PE. I loved to run and climb things, trees and rocks; on one occasion…