A story: I tutor a 38-year-old lawyer in French every Thursday. He wants to have a retirement home in France, and so is auditing a French class at my school to learn, and found me through our professor (who is among my favorite people on the planet) so he could get extra help. His name is Sean, and he's pretty fun to tutor because his view on life is so different than mine.
Sometimes, though, he can be a royal pain (Sean, if you're reading this... désolé).
Today, I was helping him write a short paragraph for his homework. He was attempting to convey an idea in a fairly complex sentence structure, one I feared he hadn't actually learned yet. I was trying to explain to him how it worked, and he didn't understand. He kept trying to use a word/conjugation that would only apply in a different context. We went back and forth for quite a while before we simply settled on a far simpler way to say the same thing.
Later on, when I was daydreaming about the Parliament instead of paying attention to conversation at supper, I thought back on this, and realized how much it really related to the Parliament and our goals there.
Comparisons
19-year-old college student, avid blogger, and hummus-loving closet hippie versus 38-year-old lawyer, father, recreational hunter, and (I suspect) workaholic OR this religion versus that religion versus those religions
Fighting over grammatical structure OR fighting over beliefs and truths
Attempting to resolve a minimal dispute in a college café OR attempting to resolve grand disputes in the largest exhibition/convention center in the world
A simple resolution solved one issue. Can it solve the other?
There is one discrepancy in my comparisons. I believe that all religions, regardless of how different or unique or weird (yeah, I said it) they are, contain truth. I wouldn't dare say how much truth, since I hardly consider myself worthy to make such a judgement, but truth nonetheless.
And Sean's argument was, in fact, wrong. As his tutor, I have the right to say this. A very small degree of power to go to one's head, but I digress. The man could sue me for tax evasion, and he would undoubtedly win, so I exploit authority where I can.
Nine days. And we're on our way. Peace be with you.
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yeah power and authority play a very imp role in the wrongs and rights of life.power can definitely turn a wrong into a right!!but the question is when that authority is handed over to us would we be the same as we are now??power can influence even the simplest and purest of minds!!well written post and keep writing!!
ReplyDeleteOkay, I am going to try this again. I wanted to respond to an early blog entry about writing like Julia. I just wanted to say "write like Maggie." It is a fine, fine thing. I am beyond proud of you, will worry obsessively and be completely jealous of you seeing the Dalai Lama.
ReplyDeleteLove!