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Copyright © Louis Schmier and Atwood Publishing.
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2002 07:27:28 -0500 (EST)
Random Thought: Random Thoughts: Those Pithy Quotes
Have you noticed how so many of us do love our high sounding
quotes about education and teaching? We page through Bartlette's to find
them. We underline them in books and articles. We excise them from
speeches. We throw them out. We paste them on our doors. We mount them
on our walls. We write them into our syllabi. We cite them on our web
sites. We configure them into our e-signatures. And then, too often, too
many of us fundamentally ignore them, thinking, to paraphrase the Bard,
the quote doth make the educator.
Does it? Really? There is a risk, a threat, a danger, a
challenge to embracing these snappy phrases and sentences. We offer up
these quotes as examples. Examples of what? Of what we are? Of what we
aspired to be? Of what we wish we were? We have to be careful that these
quotes don't come back to bite us, that they do not reveal too much or too
little of us. We obviously want others to read them, but do we really
read and re-read them ourselves once we've cut and pasted? We wouldn't
want to create an apparent contradiction between utterance and deed that
drags such quoted eloquence from the depths of the profound into the
shallows of sloganeering, that so emptys the words by empty action that
they become rhetorical gloss, or, as Macbeth might say, full of sound and
fury signifying nothing.
Do we live them? We should. The guide is there in those words.
We have only to think about the advice and the direction they offer, and
then have the humility to see if we are following them ourselves. They
should be the lyrics for our soul's song, the rhythm of our body's energy,
the panorama of our true vision. Do we use really them as catalysts,
stimulants, guides, magnets, road maps, beacons? Do we use them to set
the mood, create the climate, choreograph steps, deepen understanding, do
good works?
Do we live them? We should. Do we really give thought to them
beyond their rythmic and melodious sound? Do we hear their beckoning
call? Do we use them to initiate those critical and crucial inner
conversations with ourselves? Do we use them to resonate?
Do we live them? We should. I have this strong feeling that
these quotes so often are glimmers of shadow beliefs, hidden hopes, our
secret "if only," our muffled "I wish" on which we too often are afraid to
shine our light and on whose path we dare not risk be seen walking.
Do we live them? We should. Do we let them get under our skin
and itch our spirit? Do we feel challenged by them and struggle to rise
to their occasion? Do we use them to focus. Do we really understand,
want to understand, ponder, search, reflect, for example, when we quote
someone like Mark Twain who said "I never let school get in the way of my
education?"
Do we live them? We should. Do we use them as a catalyst for
giving thought, a lot of thought, beyond the snappiness, to the questions,
"who am I?" "what is an education?" Or, do we get our high-sounding quote
first and then interpret it as we please to certify the validity of what
we are already doing? Sometimes, I wonder if we merely post and inscribe
these quotes as the false certainty and security of a Linneaus blanket, as
masks behind which we hide ourselves, and as costumes in which we dress
ourselves.
Do we live them? We should. Think of what Abigail Adams wrote
her husband during the American Revolution. She said something to the
effect that we need active participants, not inactive spectators. There
are too many high sounding words, she wrote, and too few actions to
correspond with them.
Do we live them? We should. There is so much power in a quote
for someone who cares to look and hear, to see and listen. When you read
the words, you should exclaim, "Ah, this is my story. This is something I
always wanted to say but didn't have the right words." The quote should
bring forth something that is waiting to be brought forth. It's purpose
is spiritual instruction and emotional direction. The quote speaks of
potential. The quote doesn't render the experience; it suggests it. You
have to experience the words to catch the message. Otherwise, you're not
hearing what is said.
Do we live them? We should. We shouldn't just mount a guote.
That's not reflection. Thinking about why you mounted the quote is
reflection. Thinking about how you live or can live or will struggle to
live the quote is reflection. After all, we carry our quality in our
manner, not in our posted words. Our character is revealed in doing the
right things, not saying the right things.
Oh, don't forget to read the quote in my signature below.
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