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Leave it to beaver teacher11/13/2022 ![]() ![]() ![]() Here is yet another example (fictional though it may be) of an esteemed person in a position of power using his social rank to cheat and manipulate according to his own rules. Yet part of me bristles when watching this dated episode. Maybe the ending of the program is a happy one? Langley has “turned” (the literal meaning of the Hebrew word, teshuvah), and if he were in this situation again, he would most likely not behave in a similar fashion. The concept of teshuvah or repentance in the Jewish tradition applies here. His children and family are not dragged into the mud because of his malfeasance, and everyone seems to score a hole-in-one. Langley seems to understand the magnitude of his transgression, makes atonement even in his own manipulative way, and corrects the error. All seems well that ends well, with Beaver’s pal, Gilbert (another caddy) observing, “The way I figure it, the less you have to do with adults, the better ya are.”įor hours now, I’ve been thinking about that ending. Langley doctor another scorecard at a golf rematch, this time causing Mr. In the last few minutes of the show, Beaver helps Mr. ![]() Langley explains his motivations, his harmful pride, his worry over losing $500, and, ultimately, his remorse to Beaver. Langley’s office downtown, politely demands an appointment with the businessman, confronts the well-respected adult about his own actions, and hands back the ill-gained five dollars he earned as hush money. My son waited to eat his breakfast while I watched, transfixed, as Beaver hatched a plan. Wally points out all of the possible negative ramifications of turning in the cheater, whom morally-pure Beaver considers to be on the same level as a thief. Langley’s son, and Beaver will anger and embarrass him. Langley will most likely be expelled, which will punish the entire family. He reminds Beaver that if he goes to an authority at the golf club, Mr. Wally, however, doles out some classic 20th-century wisdom. Luckily for Beaver, he has a smart and kind-hearted older brother to confide in. Beaver battles with his own burgeoning conscience when he realizes that he’s been paid off in order to cover up for Mr. Langley, a businessman who cheats on his scorecard when playing against his golfing rival in order to win a $500 bet (an impressive sounding sum of money even 50 years later). Beaver receives an overwhelmingly generous tip of five dollars from Mr. In 1963, before I was even born, in the sixth and final season of “Leave It to Beaver,” the young suburban hero, now a teenager, takes a caddying job at a country club. What I didn’t expect to confront was Beaver experiencing his own dilemma regarding the morally corrupt actions of a trusted adult. Not alert or articulate enough to face my children with yet another conversation about sexual abuse in the entertainment industry before my morning coffee, I took the coward’s way out and let the sounds of Beaver and Wally Cleaver fill my kitchen and my 11-year-old’s ears. My children were home from school for a teacher workday, and I was startled to hear the hosts on all of the major networks graphically describing unsavory details regarding a comedian “pleasuring himself” in front of disgusted colleagues. After about one minute of listening to sound bytes from all of the morning television news programs today, I quickly flipped to a black and white rerun of “Leave It to Beaver" on a TV classics station. ![]()
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