Philosophy

So I work in two high schools, they are next door to one another. None of my students know I speak Spanish. Well, one does but he´s a savant. On the first day of class all of the students had to ask me a question, so they were asking "Do you know famous people?," "Does everybody in California surf?," etc. When it was his turn, he said "pass," the teacher was furious with him and after class told him that that was rude. His response was that he had many questions to ask me regarding the current state of the economy, the social security crisis in the US and regarding my political stance on the war; he felt that his questions were out of place among the infantile, empty questions of the others. He had a point. I started seeing him on my walks to and from school, we began to talk, in English of course, and one day he asked me, "Aren´t you trying to learn Spanish?" I smiled and didn´t respond. "You are living here, you speak Arabic, Spanish would be so easy for you to pick up." I couldn´t lie to him, so I told him I speak Spanish. He was agassed. He was upset at the teachers for lying to him. He paused for a second and said, "But I´m not going to speak to you in English, what you´re doing is very good, you are very clever." I made him swear not to tell the other students and I´m certain he hasn´t, he isn´t your run of the mill 17 year old, he reads Nichte and knows all about classical music, he loves art and has very opinionated beliefs, and I think he´s marvelous.

So, back to my work in the highschools. I sit in on a Philosophy class, taught in English. It is fascinating and I think I enjoy it more than the students. We were discussing life and happiness and whatnot when we got to the topic of Alzheimer´s Disease. One of the students said it´s beautiful because it´s like being born again everyday. As unconventional of a belief and statement as that may be, I loved it and wanted to share.

Please live and be happy.