"God Made Me This Way"

by Dina Sacks

I remember and admire Dr. Adelle Land the most. She was the head of the Education Department. She was a brilliant woman, and I took a teaching course with her my last year when I went into education. She was excellent.

One time she said I should get up in front of the class and make believe like I was giving a lesson. When I finished she said, "That was fine but couldn't you speak faster?"

She didn't realize it, but when I was young my teachers had changed me from using my left hand to my right, and it left me with a slight stutter. When I went to Ohio State, my first year of college I was still doing it a little, and fortunately they had a big speech lab there. They recorded you, and then you played it back, and I really made wonderful strides. I practically got rid of the stutter completely, except if I got upset or something. But one of the things that you had to do was speak slower, which helped eliminate the stutter

So I said no, I couldn't speak faster. And she looked at me strangely and said, "Well, why not?" And, of course, I didn't go into the whole explanation as I was embarrassed that I had ever stuttered, and so I said, "Well, I guess because God made me this way." She seemed taken aback at my answer but didn't say a word at my reply. I felt she understood.