The Lemmings

“Good morning, Mrs. Patterson,” the grade school class said in unison.

“Good morning, children,” Mrs. Patterson responded, almost by rote. “Are you ready to learn today?”

“Yes, Mrs. Patterson!” All the children answered together, smiled and sat up in their desks.

“Today, we’re going to learn about lemmings,” Mrs. Patterson announced. “Many people have a misconception of lemmings.” She wrote the word “misconception” on the board and then turned to face the children, all of whom were taking diligent notes. “Many people believe that lemmings commit mass suicide. This is not true. Lemmings do not throw themselves off cliffs or voluntarily drown themselves in rivers! That would be ridiculous! None of God’s creatures are that mindless!” The children laughed together, as it was certain that there would be little point in making a creature that would be so stupid as to promote its own death. Especially a creature God had created! “No, when lemmings migrate, they migrate together. With their families, their neighbors, their community friends, their schools, all the people around them. They all travel together. And when the population density becomes too big,” she stopped. “Can we all say ‘population density’?”

“Population density,” the children said together.

“That’s right, when the population density becomes too great, many of the lemmings will fall off cliffs or drown in rivers as they’re migrating. “


“Oh,” the group of children responded, as if they had all understood the information as one collective.

“And even though it’s sad for the lemmings, their behavior can teach us some valuable lessons. For example, if all of your friends decided to jump off a cliff, would you jump off a cliff with them?”


“No!” shouted the children in horror.

“That’s right, you wouldn’t! Would you follow you friends into a river if you were going to drown in that river?”


“No!” the Voice of the Children replied.

“That’s right, children! And it’s important to remember that when you get out in the real world. There are going to be people making many bad decisions, and it’s important that you do not follow them off the cliff or into the river. It’s important to think for yourself and decide to make good choices!”


The children clapped together.

Mrs. Patterson felt that she had taught the lesson on lemmings well. She might write a letter of praise to the textbook company that produced the book from which she taught. After all, most of the schools in her area taught from the same book, so she felt comfortable teaching what those around her were teaching. On second thought, perhaps she wouldn’t write a letter of praise. With everyone else teaching what she was teaching, somebody else surely would have written a letter of praise before now. She didn’t want to bother the company with another piece of mail that they didn’t really need.