My
father has always been a role model to me.
He’s a hardworking man who does what is right. Even though he barely
finished high school, he took his learning in his own hands. There were always
books at home. He would dive into them and looked almost mesmerized. I
decided I needed to know the fountain he would often visit.
Becoming
an avid reader totally changed my life. It literally prevented me from going
rogue. We used to live in a rough
neighborhood in Bogotá. Many of the kids I grew up with ended up dead, in jail,
or addicted to drugs. My dad knew it was not the best environment to raise his kids, but it was the only place we could afford. This situation didn't turn him bitter. Actually, he was the first stoic I
met. He never complains about what fortune brings and takes away. Nietzsche’s
amor fati (love your destiny) has been his motto. He usually says he feels
grateful for having the opportunity of experiencing life with its ups and downs. Most of the lessons I have learned
from him were never intended as lessons to begin with. When I was a child, I would just observe
the way he reacted to different challenges in life. That was how I learned to accept the mystery
we are part of and live a virtuous life.
Another
teacher that comes to my mind is my third grade philosophy teacher, Aurora
Esguerra. I fell in love with philosophy
because of her. She provided me with
tools to assess different discourses and taught me not take anything at face
value. We would have conversations
during recess and was the first adult to tell me that my making impersonations
of other teachers was not something to be punished for. She told me that humor is one of the best
tools against grandiosity and that we shouldn’t take ourselves so seriously. She never patronized me; if fact, she would
listen to me attentively and point at flaws in my arguments and wait patiently
for my response. She was the first
teacher in secondary school with some sense of humanity. We were not just her
students; we were members of a community of practice where empathy, respect,
and tolerance were at the core.
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