Margo wrote a very interesting post the other day about the unknown paths of someone and staying relative to oneself, describing her and her students' journeys..and it put me in thoughts...
so let's start from the big bang:
my students were born in 1987,1988 or 1989, 1990 etc
when i talk about the fall of the Berlin wall, I remember myself at the age of 9 being absolutely glued in front of the tv watching--they were not even born or they were just babies; hence there is a gap in terms of reference, not necessary but it occurs many times..this is not the point, the point is that there is a gap that you might fall in.
then today, I was pacing up and down the exam room in my university looking at my students taking their final exam of a module on performance and globalisation (which was such a pain throughout the months between october and december). one of them asked me to go to the toilet (and i had to escort him, ah! the joys of invigilation!), on the way back I saw that he was wearing a big budge saying '21 today'..I smiled as I always do when I feel uncomfortable or guilty.
for the rest of the exam, I was thinking of a time travel machine that I could take and go back to the years 1999 or 1998 when these people where 10 and I was 18,19,20 writing exams, hating latin and thinking that I knew everything. I am trying to bring myself back in their shoes knowing that there is nothing more relative than the experience of being an undergraduate student.
and then tonight, my most favourite student ever and now a very dear and close friend announces his good news and prospects of study for next year; 'you are about to embark on a most delightful journey', the little piece of paper from the fortune cookie of the night of September 16th 2002 came to mind straightaway, the moment that I read his message; I am still travelling this journey and he is about to embark on one of his own...then is the gap growing smaller? it is just where you situate yourself in the line of this journey (very start, start, middle, towards the end, about to finish) that is different. or is it?
being relative to oneself means keep asking questions, right?
my questions tonight are:
1. has it really been 10 years since I got that funny book as a birthday gift for my brother and he was 21 and I was 19? (I froze tonight when he reminded me; 'no sense of humour' he said; true i find it very difficult to keep my sense of humour these days)
2. why do I keep on choosing to fall on my steps through the walk of someone else? and how can I not believe that time, after all the fuss, the trouble and the arguments, is indeed cyclical?
radiohead's song comes to mind...
'there is a gap in between, there is a gap where we meet,
where I end and you begin..'
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2 comments:
it's like walking straight on a sphere (the world?), you don't feel the roundness until time passes and you come back to the point where you have started (that point may be unrecognisable/unfamiliar though because it also changes, like you).
-i've been really busy, but we should arrange to do something, say, next week?
._.
Το greek-movies έβαλε Λόγω Τιμής. Εκεί να δεις πολιτισμικό σοκ. Έχω πάθει την πλάκα μου...1996????
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