Sensitivity Training

Munger told us that he had something important to tell us. Standing before our class, he was solemn. He would really rather not tell us, he said, because it was private. He then uttered words like colon cancer and surgery and intestinal rerouting. He worried that his colostomy bag might rupture—it happened on rare occasions—and he didn’t want to wait until then to reveal his condition to us.
Seated in front of him, we fifth graders appeared to be discreet and compassionate. The minute we were let out for recess, however, we roared amongst ourselves:
“Munger poops out of his stomach!”
“Eeew!”
“Munger poops in a bag!”
“Gross!”