Poem
Anonymous Person 29 Dec 1999 at 04:00 GMT

Passing Thought in 1995
In order to create, It is often necessary to destroy, Not 'things' or objects, As we may usually consider, But Souls, Spirits Buds before they become flowers, One's Self. The Weaker acts as a Magnet, For the Stronger - the teacher. But we are not teaching with lectures, We are teaching with ourselves, Our own life. Gradually, the Weaker becomes Stronger, And the Stronger must become Weaker, For the lessons cannot be taught without cost. And so, if the teacher has taught well his lessons of life, The pupil will rise, and tear himself from his Mentor, For that is what he has surely become. And so the Pupil will become the Master in his place, To repeat the well intentioned gesture. Ultimately knowing that by doing so, He seals his own fate. For like the Praying Mantis, Its very act of creation, Results in its own destruction.

Re: Poem
Merlin 29 Dec 1999 at 04:40 GMT

You've been drinking stronger stuff than me tonite! But it doesn't rhyme!!
More seriously, I don't really agree that the teacher gets weaker by the process of imparting knowledge. In fact the very opposite is true - he learns from the interaction that occurs within the teaching process and becomes wiser as a result. Were this not true inexperienced staff would be getting jobs faster than experienced ones.

Re: Poem
Anonymous Person 29 Dec 1999 at 12:50 GMT

It is not meant to rhyme, the 'teacher' is a 'mentor', teaching someone about life experiences, not an academic subject.
If it were about a conventional teacher, I would agree with your comments.

Re: Poem
Merlin 29 Dec 1999 at 14:25 GMT

Don't reckon you can teach people about life's experiences, cos otherwise learner's life experiences wouldn't be their life experiences they'd be the mentor's life experiences. And years later when learners grows old and becomes mentors, they'd be be passing down secondhand and thirdhand life experiences. In no time at all, all these life experiences would be well past their sell by date!
Only thing you can do for other people is provide an environment where they can gain their own life experiences without too much risk, and tell them about your experiences so that they can use em as a point of reference and try to avoid your mistakes. Again though, doing either of these things doesn't do the 'mentor' any harm - unless of course the learner is a teenager! (only joking!)

Re: Poem
manx 29 Dec 1999 at 14:30 GMT

I AGREE

Re: Poem
Anonymous Person 29 Dec 1999 at 20:45 GMT

But we do learn from others life experiences. We learn from our parents and siblings. On a wider scale the process is called History - which is why history is so important. And that is often more than second or third hand!
To refer back to the poem; I would question whether we can destroy ourselves in the way that the poem suggests. We can, perhaps, trim the edges, but anything more would involve losing all the connections that we have with other people up to that point. We are not just what we create for ourselves, what we have taught ourselves to be, but also what we are expected to be, and have reflected back at us by other people. What others expect and reflect back re-inforces our sense of 'self' and is difficult to break away from.
Whilst I understand the metaphor, I think the teacher/pupil is inappropriate. The process is more like constantly building the school as you go along. You never lose the teacher - you just move to a bigger classroom. And sometimes it is necessary to go back to an earlier classroom for some remedial teaching. )

Re: Poem
Merlin 29 Dec 1999 at 22:50 GMT

Good grief - this is getting complicated.
AP - I have no problem with the idea of learning from other's life experiences - my issue is that I don't think the 'other' ends up any worse off for it - as is suggested by the non-rhyming poem.
And on the subject of the rhyming, there are many poets who must put great effort into making their poems rhyme. Is not all this effort denigrated somewhat when other people come up with poems that don't take the trouble to rhyme?

Re: Poem
Peter 29 Dec 1999 at 22:55 GMT

Personally I think rhythm, a sense of the flow of words, is far more important than rhyme. Tigger?

Re: Poem
Merlin 29 Dec 1999 at 23:00 GMT

Well I've just had my drumstick out Peter and that doesn't work with the above poem either! Good job they're made of chicken - at least I can stick em in the oven now for a late night snack.

Re: Poem
Peter 29 Dec 1999 at 23:00 GMT

And you'll make wonderful stock from the bones, Merlin, I always do . . .

Re: Poem
Merlin 29 Dec 1999 at 23:15 GMT

I quite like vegetable stock Peter, but finding bones in vegetables is no easy task.

Re: Poem
Peter 29 Dec 1999 at 23:15 GMT

Can't say I'm a huge veggie stock fan though I do make it for my veggie friends when I'm doing a big soup or something and they always love me 'cos I make my cheesecakes the proper way, so they're baked and there's no nasty gelatine. But one can't get precisely that gelatinous quality in vegetable stocks. Never mind, just slosh in the white wine instead!

Re: Poem
Merlin 29 Dec 1999 at 23:20 GMT

You've made me hungry now! So how about the recipe for these auburgines - never have bought one cos I've never had a clue what I'd do with it if it did.

Re: Poem
Peter 29 Dec 1999 at 23:25 GMT

Main thing with most supermarket aubergines is that they need to be cut into slices and sprinkled with salt for about an hour to get rid of the bitter juices and to tenderise the flesh a bit, then you can rinse them, pat them dry, and do whatever. I recommend a ratatouille kind of thing, saute them with courgettes, onions, capsicum, whatever, and then add lots of garlic, tinned tomatoes, olive oil and simmer; don't eat it for two days and it will be wonderful. What I had for dinner isn't hard, just a bit messy: you fry the aubergine slices in oil on both sides, put in a casserole dish, and cover with a garlicky, oniony, spicy tomato sauce you've been boiling down for an hour, and some freshly grated parmesan. I also use aubergine slices fried in oil and left to marinate in the fridge in entree platters, and there are some wonderful dips and soups to be made with baked aubergine! It's one of my fave vegetables actually.

Re: Poem
Merlin 31 Dec 1999 at 12:45 GMT

Peter, How long do they take to cook in the oven? Think I might buy some at weekend and have an experiment.