Day 27: I'm sorry, I'm not interested

Morrissey says this to his elementary school teacher on page 60 of his autobiography when asked about a book that is being read aloud in class.  The context is that he has been staring out of the window while the book is being read.  He is watching black rain fall outside of the windows, as one would imagine a young Morrissey doing.

We should all be this honest at such a young age.  We are taught as children that we need to respond appropriately when we are addressed by teachers and other adults, but that appropriate response rarely includes expressing ourselves authentically.  Instead, we are groomed to feign interest in appropriate things at appropriate times.  We are repeatedly encouraged to suppress our true interests for the sake of those things that someone else who has never met us or come to know our person has decided are in our benefit.

Conform and suppress.  Conform and suppress.  I say no.