Almost a musing: 1/24/2022
Standing on Desks, Progress, Scrabble, Churchill
Happy Monday!
Quick read
Progress
Student: “Master, how will I know if I am making any progress?”
Master: “You will know it when, what once made you mad, now makes you laugh.”
Visual
Somewhere in Arizona
Fact
The French-language Scrabble World Champion doesn’t speak French. New Zealand native Nigel Richards memorized the entire French Scrabble dictionary (386,000 words) in 9 weeks to earn his title. He has also won the English World Scrabble Championship 3 times, the U.S. national championships 5 times, and the U.K. Open Scrabble tournament 6 times.
Take from that what you will.
This day in history
57 years ago today, on January 24th 1965, Winston Churchill, the British leader who guided Great Britain and the Allies through the crisis of World War II, died in London at the age of 90.
Tune
Quote(s)
“I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship” // Lousia May Alcott
Something to ponder
“Life is a balance between holding on and letting go” // Rumi
Honorable Mentions
Personal update
I watched Dead Poets Society this past week, which had been burning a hole in my movie list for quite some time. I thought it was great. It touched on a few really important themes that I’ve found myself coming back to a lot these last few days.
There was one scene in particular that I can’t seem to shake.
In the middle of teaching his English class, John Keating (Robin Williams), stands up on his desk and asks his students, “Why do I stand up here.” After being asked if it’s “to feel taller”, he says, "No, I stand upon my desk to remind myself that we must constantly look at things in a different way.” He then tells his students, “You must strive to find your own voice because the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all.”
This scene emphasizes the importance of learning how to think for yourself and captures the essence of why I make such a concerted effort to read / have conversations about new ideas that challenge my preconceived notions of the world.
I like to think that I rekindled my intellectual curiosity a few years ago, when I rediscovered the joys of reading (when and only when I was allowed to read whatever I wanted whenever I wanted, rather than be told exactly what to read and exactly when I had to read it...go figure).
Leaving my unsolicited commentary on the current state of our education system aside (for now), I truly believe that interacting with new ideas allows me to change my vantage point of the world—to stand up on my metaphorical desk.
Unfortunately, standing on top of desks is becoming a lost art. I get it, it’s way easier not to. Our phones and computers—the same devices that put the greatest books ever written (the gateways to newfound perspectives)—at the tips of our fingers, also provide us with 1 million reasons not to read them.
The combination of infinite distractions and the crippling fear that we may not like what we see when we have ultimately ascended to the tops of our desks appears to be sufficient in keeping most folks satisfied living their lives at eye level. Or as Thoreau puts it, “Leading lives of quiet desperation.”
A few years ago, a friend of mine challenged me (using less kind words) to read things that challenge the conventional wisdom that I, for so long, had been conditioned to blindly accept as the truth. He challenged me to learn how to think for myself.
I won’t claim to be there yet, but I like to think I am closer than I was a few years ago.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
I want to pass the same challenge onto you.
Here is to finding your voice, and along the way, never forgetting that you’re the only one who can find it.
Here is to standing up on your desk.
Until next week,
New here?
Looooooove. Also crazy to think WC, a man who was obese, religiously smoked cigars, drank scotch throughout the day, and held one of the most emotionally and physically draining roles in the world lived until he was 90...