Wednesday, March 30, 2011

The Pitfalls of Greatness

1. I got a good parking spot this morning, and was only a little late instead of a lot late.
2. I was able to get most of the living room/kitchen cleaned up for my wife in only fifteen minutes or so.
3. While I may not know where I'm supposed to go next in Castlevania, I'm still having a blast.

A buddy of mine heard that I was a stats tutor and told me that he was tutoring a girl, and was doing fine at teaching the data inputting part of it, but was having trouble teaching the theory behind it all.  He asked if I was good at that part and when I told him it was probably what I was best at, he asked if I could help him tutor her.  I said yes, and had an hour between my last class and when the tutoring would start.  So, I decided to stop by one of my favorite teachers classes to talk about the recent issue at Alta High.

He was in his office on the computer, I knocked, he let me in, I told him that if he was busy I wasn't coming for anything important.  He let me in anyway.  We started with him noticing my Yoga mat and recounting his Yogic experience in college, when, because he has high arches, his feet would not lay flat while in the downward facing dog position, and the 5'4" instructor got up on his butt and jumped up and down, trying to make his feet lay flat.  We both laughed and another student showed up at the door.  My teacher said that he did really want to meet with the guy, but that Wednesdays were busy.  I of course quickly got up and said that I really just wanted to talk about what happened at Alta, my teacher hadn't heard of it, but quickly came to same conclusion that I had, "It was much ado about nothing,"  and I left so that the other student with actual needs could talk to him.

Those of you who know me and my teachers well probably know who I'm talking about, and chances are, you are not surprised by this story at all.  This teacher is always busy.  He knows a lot, about a lot of things, has thought out opinions about those things, and is open to hearing students meanderings about the same subjects.  In turn, there are a lot of us who really like spending time in his office. In reality, I didn't need to know his thoughts on what happened at Alta High, I just wanted the pleasure of sitting with him, and pontificating about the state of the world and racism in general.  I was not surprised at all that someone else showed, because when I was still going to be a therapist, I had a heart to heart with him about what a good path might be for me.

Really, I'm just thinking now about how great people, often have very little time.  Once someone becomes openly great, others will naturally be drawn to that person, and that person, because they are great, will give much of their time and talents to help those who are drawn to them, because truly great people, will want to make others great.  I'm sure I'll never have this problem, but I thought it was one that was interesting.

Have a nice day.

7 comments:

  1. I totally agree with your observation. I believe there ARE truly great people out there. I even did a post on this once.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sometimes there are good people out there some where.

    ReplyDelete
  3. There are a lot of people that are good - even great. Sometimes, though, it's hard to find out what someone's special talent is - in your lecturer's case, it's easy.

    I think everyone likes to like and be liked. Perhaps I'm naive?

    By the way: Your lecturer (and you) are perfectly right about the incident at your old school: a storm in a teacup!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I admire people like that. I wonder if I could ever have half the energy they seem to possess to accomplish what they do. I'd settle for at least that much.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I was at PAX East a few weeks ago and in the Classic Console room, someone was totally rocking Castlevania.

    Just thought I'd share.

    ReplyDelete
  6. @Sprite
    Alwyas beating me to the good ones. :)

    @OT
    Always the optimist. :) There really are, I promise.

    @MM
    I agree about people liking to like and to be liked. As far as the incident goes: I guess they are finding out more, and if the kid REALLY did try to look like the KKK, he needs some serious punishment, but I have a hard time believing he wasn't just being a dumb teenager.

    @Vinny
    I dunno man, the more I write down what I'm thankful for, and the more I care about others, the more energy I seem to find. I think it's an acquired skill.

    @Missy
    I agree, and then I don't. When I look at society as a whole it's hard not to agree, but when I look at the potential of the individual, I tend to disagree.

    @Kev
    Haha, thanks man. It's a classic I tell you! Everyone who like video games likes Castlevania.

    ReplyDelete