to fly

He was a giant of a man. His dark rimmed glasses matched the shade of his moustache and hair which he swept to the right side of his face. A tie was normal attire and his dress shirt was always tucked in over his large midsection. Sitting behind his desk with his shoulders bent over the latest stack of papers to grade, he always played with his dress shoes under the desk thinking that none of us students noticed.

All these physical memories aside, he also showed me a lot about life. This high-school teacher once told me that "the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know."

It seemed ironic. The more I learn, the more I realize I don't know. I didn't understand that statement. It seemed illogical. Yet, I am living this nugget of truth out everyday

This physics teacher and his token of truth came to mind today while I was daydreaming during my master's course. We teachers were naturally discussing "teacher things" and "teachers who have impacted us." I waded through the mental list of my teachers and had halted on the "physics giant" when someone said something about a kite. At this point, I stopped paying attention to the teacher talk around me and got lost in thought.

You see, I did something ridiculous a couple weeks ago. I bought a kite. I don't know why I had such an urge to make such a purchase, but it seemed to make sense. Ever since I read "The Kite Runner" last fall and read of the struggles in Afghanistan through the eyes of a boy enamored with kite racing, I have had an urge to fly one. I don't know how to race kites, nor do I know how to really fly them.

Nevertheless, when I saw kites being sold at the beach, I simply couldn't hold myself back. So I bought a kite. A red one. And I named it Ruby. Ruby and I had a rocky beginning to our friendship as I kept crashing her into the ground with the failed take-off attempts. But I eventually got the hang of it and she was sailing high above the sandy ground I stood on.

It had been a long time since I had managed a kite. Once she was up and flying, I really had no idea what to do with myself. So I started to run. It seemed like the only natural thing to do, albeit it probably didn't look that natural given my age. But I had fun with it and was able to pass around the fun with some kids at the beach.

Buying a kite wasn't something I planned on doing while we were camping on the beach. The opportunity just presented itself. It seemed spontaneous and somehow rewarding after hoarding that desire to fly one for quite a few months. So thinking about kites and managing to waste some time tonight, I found out that not only can a person fly a kite, you can use one to drive.

I'm not even kidding. There are such things as kite buggies. These contraptions can travel at speeds up to 70 mph! The activity would be "kite buggying". Seriously, who does that? Who knows that? Had I not read a book referring to kites, not decided to buy a kite, not decided to waste time tonight, I would have never learned about kite buggies.

Not that I ever needed to know about kite buggies. But I think it's a worthy example of learning about one thing and leading me to learn another thing. I think my physics teacher in high school had some logic behind that nugget of truth he threw my way.

Somehow he was putting out the bait, hoping we would bite and be inspired to learn more. It's ok that we don't know everything. Or at least that's my take on it as I was distracted during "teacher talk" in my master's class today.

When I mentally checked back into the "teacher talk", I concluded he really was a good teacher. And he did inspire me. And I like to think my students don't notice, but I play with my dress shoes under my desk too.

p.s. i highly recommend reading "the kite runner" even more than i recommend flying a kite. :)