October 27, 2004
-
My red-headed Xanga conscience has gently urged me along, so the following ramblings are her fault.
I was actually musing over some personal issues this morning and thought about setting them to digital pen with a long-winded blog. However, it’s the kind of issues that when writing about, I can’t get the image out of my head of the reader; lips pursed, head shaking, and thinking, “sheesh, why doesn’t this guy get a grip”. It has to do with short term and long term planning, health, philosophy, etc. blah…blah…blah.
I heard two quotes the other day that really hit home with me: Live each day as if tomorrow is your last, Learn each day as if you’ll live forever. And…(teacher in an interview giving her take on the value of learning history) “…important for students to understand history and how it affects our lives. This leads to sophisticated thought and that’s what college education is all about”. Yes, that is it. I have never heard it stated so succinctly and accurately. When talking to the lamenting college student about the universal question, “why do they make me take all of this crap, I just want to be an [anthropologist]”, the sensitive mentor should not hesitate to tout the idea that “higher” education is all about developing the basis for sophisticated thought. Learning to be a whatever is secondary.
Speaking of college; My daughter proudly announced that she got an A on her sociology test last week. It was an essay test which covered several complex sociological concepts, including some of Marx’s theories. I read her essays and was quite impressed. This was quite a step in development for a girl who, like her dad at her age, is all too practical for her own good, which can narrow one’s view of what matters in the world. She was very proud and so am I. Son relayed via our new communication venue, Instant Messaging, that his mid-term grades came out and he is sitting with 4 A’s and 1 B. He confidently followed with saying that the B in anthropology was based on one test and that he thought that he could bring that grade up by the end of the term. I didn’t pass on what I was thinking, “ damn boy, when I was in school I would have given away my beer money for a B in anthropology”.
So my kids are setting a good example for me. In keeping with the first quote above, I think I’ll schedule a sky diving lesson and grab a copy of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey to read during the decent.
Comments (2)
I’m glad I did the sky diving thing when I was young and single, personally (’cause I don’t think I should be risking my kids’ mom at this point — no, really, that’s the only reason. Nothing to do with the fear factor…..)
.
I’ve always paused to think when I hear the “live each day” quote. First because in my very infrequent and short-term brushes with the imminency of my own demise, I’ve come to realize that you — or “one — or let’s just make that “I” — really can’t do that. Unless I do have my imminent demise right there in front of me, I’m dismal at living each day as if it were my last. I TRY. But it’s hard to ditch that certain optimism that I WILL live forever. You know?
Which brings us to the second part of the quote. I think I’ve heard it somewhat differently, or maybe just wanted it to be different; something like: “…..learn from each day as if it were forever.” I guess what I’m grasping for is something beyond the A’s and B’s; the academic sense of ‘learning,’ to something more profound (or maybe just less test-oriented?).
Anyway. Don’t stop sharing your odyssey. In all senses.
“damn boy, when I was in school I would have given away my beer money for a B in anthropology”
bahaah!
i remember when my daughter (now in college, then in high school) said, “that’s easy for you to say. after all, you were a perfect student. studied and had good grades.”
o_o I looked behind me and then looked at her and said, “me?”
i’m not sure when i led her to believe that.
it is interesting to watch them come to grips with college vs schooling before that point.