In Conversation and in Dancing
John L. Waters
October 22, 2005
In conversation and in dancing, two warm bodies feel close to each other. Good conversationalists and good dancers work close together directly to please one another. In writing a book or in building a house, however, a man works alone to please a family or a publisher. So, too, the solitary hunter works in isolation to please his hungry wife and children by making a large kill. Modern schools favor the solitary worker. Students dance and converse a lot more in recess than during class.
Some children are very social, and they live to dance, party, and work in a team. Other children work best alone, at their own pace, away from so much distraction. Sooner or later however, a good person hopes to favorably impress. Consequently, when the beast appears, a good hunter hopes to slay it. Or, using another metaphor, when the fair damsel appears, the good man hopes to win her heart. And by the way, metaphor use (poetry) isn't necessarily a lie or a sin.
Indeed, talents differ, and one person makes fine furniture while another person grows fine fragrant roses. The fine dancer may not be a fine conversationalist or a fine drummer. Even if a good person is mainly a good poet, one hopes to find a social niche where what one does is important, at least to a few persons. A good family life helps make this happen, but some families are very small or very exclusive. And some families consider poets to be sinners or at least liars.
Food costs money at the market, and gasoline costs money at the pump. Clothes cost money, even at the thrift shop. These days even some public showers and toilets cost money! Consequently today's young person needs plenty of money! This is why chronic lack of money is definitely a chronic stressor. The good hunter may have a quality firearm and plenty of ammunition, but without game there can be no success. In desperation, friends cheat or even eat one another!
A young person needs employment which pays good money. Why can't school pay a young person to perfect a skill that pays good wages? What good is training young people who can't ever find meaningful gainful employment? Why make school work meaningless? Why is prison the lot of more and more young people?
What has meaning for a child? What holds the child's attention? What engages the child for hours each day, and even on weekends when no one is forcing the child? What effort is made to help the natural poet self-actualize? Is chronic enslavement to non-poetry inevitable? Is the individual person of no importance whatsoever? Even though we live in the Age of Science, Is poetry necessarily a lie, a cheat, and a sin?
Copyright 2005 by John L. Waters. All Rights Reserved
LINKS
My website at Humboldt State University
My search for a publisher
My letters of recommendation
Some children are very social, and they live to dance, party, and work in a team. Other children work best alone, at their own pace, away from so much distraction. Sooner or later however, a good person hopes to favorably impress. Consequently, when the beast appears, a good hunter hopes to slay it. Or, using another metaphor, when the fair damsel appears, the good man hopes to win her heart. And by the way, metaphor use (poetry) isn't necessarily a lie or a sin.
Indeed, talents differ, and one person makes fine furniture while another person grows fine fragrant roses. The fine dancer may not be a fine conversationalist or a fine drummer. Even if a good person is mainly a good poet, one hopes to find a social niche where what one does is important, at least to a few persons. A good family life helps make this happen, but some families are very small or very exclusive. And some families consider poets to be sinners or at least liars.
Food costs money at the market, and gasoline costs money at the pump. Clothes cost money, even at the thrift shop. These days even some public showers and toilets cost money! Consequently today's young person needs plenty of money! This is why chronic lack of money is definitely a chronic stressor. The good hunter may have a quality firearm and plenty of ammunition, but without game there can be no success. In desperation, friends cheat or even eat one another!
A young person needs employment which pays good money. Why can't school pay a young person to perfect a skill that pays good wages? What good is training young people who can't ever find meaningful gainful employment? Why make school work meaningless? Why is prison the lot of more and more young people?
What has meaning for a child? What holds the child's attention? What engages the child for hours each day, and even on weekends when no one is forcing the child? What effort is made to help the natural poet self-actualize? Is chronic enslavement to non-poetry inevitable? Is the individual person of no importance whatsoever? Even though we live in the Age of Science, Is poetry necessarily a lie, a cheat, and a sin?
Copyright 2005 by John L. Waters. All Rights Reserved
LINKS
My website at Humboldt State University
My search for a publisher
My letters of recommendation
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