literature

Life in the Fastlane

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Literature Text

Melissa Bucholz
ENGL120
Kirkby
26 January 2007

Life in the Fast Lane

       Singer Tom Cochrane had it right when he said, "Life is a highway." It's rough, but we have to make the decision to learn to enjoy it or let the yearn to go faster end in disaster. So where's the speed limit on life? As school, work and new technologies put more pressure on people, as we well know as educators, will we realize the limit? English professor Billy Collins of Lehman College, NY, says that we will all find out why life is called "the rat race" soon enough. "The danger in all this haste is that we ourselves will accelerate to keep pace with the speed of information, and in doing so, we will lose sight of the real life around us (21)," he says in his “Commencement Address at Choate-Rosemary Hall.” Not to say that one should move lethargically, but the tempo of education needs to be steady or educators and students will eventually wear out.
My percussion professor once asked me why I wasn't practicing seven days a week and I responded, "Sometimes I need to take a break to keep myself composed. I can't get better if I make myself anxious all the time. It is okay to take a break once and a while, sir." He was about as livid as this quiet man could be for the obvious point on how he exhausts himself every day of the week. I personally am not great by any means, but I believe there is no way to get there if you run yourself off the road with no means of getting back on.
Irish dramatist Sean O'Casey relays a Persian Proverb that says in order to be happy, a person must earn two pennies: one to buy bread and another to buy a lily. One of these is a necessity and those fortunate enough to have a second penny use it to buy happiness. O'Casey says that his goal in life is to see that as many people as possible got the second penny, as Collins relays in his address (22). That is the mark of a man with a giving and unconditional heart, a person as teachers that we should learn from. The mark of a good teacher does two things; teach and individual as much as they can and inspire an individual to whatever degree that inspires happiness about learning.
     
       Teachers have the responsibility of teaching their students not only a subject, but they are mentors who hold a drastic hand in the ability to change a student’s life. Any good teacher will not only hand you a stack of information, they will bring students along in the subject encouraging them to create and share their experiences and help them develop values in life. How can one hope to teach anything about life when they haven't really experienced it themselves? Jonathan Marwil from the Ann Arbor News published his article “Only individuals can decide whether to learn” in 1998 with the reminder, “We learn when we want to, and when we want to learn we do so under almost any conditions (para 3).” Marwil expresses that the choice to learn is individual, but one needs also know that people don’t hunger for knowledge unless given a reason to do so, and that is where teachers serve.

       Teachers have the additional responsibility of teaching their students what the world can teach about learning and how to learn from it. Collins mentions that educator Vladimir Nabokov started each class saying two things; that life is beautiful and life is sad (20). As odd as this statement appears to be to address to a new group of students, it is probably one of the most important. It is reality and people need to know how to find beauty in sadness; blessings in disguise. Collins delivered the call in a graduation address for "slowing down, quietness, for stopping by woods, even for a creative loafing, for taking a moment to observe (20)." Observation and taking the time to connect things in life is learning from it. By observing, one can come up with analogies, relating subjects together. Being able to come up with analogies is essential for teaching. People learn by making connections with their own experiences. One cannot make many of these when speeding through life, tunnel-visioned, fixed on a single goal.

       One of the people who inspired me to teach was my high school band director. It was amazing; the fact that he taught seven bands, worked with a ton of ensemble groups, worked with professional groups outside school, did all the marching band charts, and still had time for his family and every student he taught, which he knew by name. His students affectionately called him "dad." One thing that will be forever imprinted on some of his students minds was the time he stepped up in front of the jazz ensemble at 6:45am and instead of raising his baton, he set it down on the stand in front of him. He began, “When we were at the Veteran’s Hospital last week, there was a young man hiding in the back missing both his legs. He approached me after the performance and told me that he was a 21-year-old veteran from Iraq. He told me how much he enjoyed your performance,” he continued, “because there was never anything to do around all those old people. I know some of you were disappointed by how few people were there. That single performance made all the difference to this man and that makes it one of the most important performances you will ever do in your life.” Fellow band mates looked at the floor with shame; others stiff chin parallel to the floor. There had been a lot of arguing and complaining on that day about how pointless the performance was and letting personal dislikes for one another get in the way. It taught those who’s ears were open that they were fortunate to have the chance to enjoy life before it was gone, as much of it was for that man.

       Life is beautiful and life is sad. Those who have seen a lot of death and suffering can either learn to see how beautiful life is and that the time we have should not be wasted on a single thing, or they can choose to hate it and sulk in the loneliness of their only vantage point on life. I hope for myself and all of you that become teachers that you realize that graduation is and will not be your only goal in life and I encourage you to realize your speed limit and set it for yourself so you can succeed in teaching others.




Works Cited


Collins, Billy. "Commencement Address at Choate-Rosemary Hall." Reading and Writing:     the College Experience. 4th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2007.

Marwil, Jonathan. "Only individuals can decide whether to learn." Ann Arbor News 1998.
for Comp


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stormygate's avatar
Woah, how the heck did this get over 1,000 views?