Revenge of the Golf Shirt

Thursday morning, I stopped in to see coffee Ed on my way to school. (I love coffee Ed, btw. He gives me a teacher discount and pours when my car pulls up. If you frequent the south side at all, visit him!) As I waited in line, I overheard a conversation between two men. They seemed to be having a Bible-less Bible study of sorts. One obviously more successfully man-in-tie was fervently preaching to an apparently younger man-in-golf-shirt. The whole conversation carried the same air of those "I bought a house with no money down" infomercials. Tie man was obviously the giver of knowledge. He spoke as if he knew very specifically what God would and would not do if golf shirt would just do xyz.

I went to my car with a bad taste in my mouth (and the flavor of the day was German Chocolate, so it was clearly not the coffee). My drive time thoughts were all about knowledge. I just don't think knowledge is something any one person owns and can deal out. I tend to think that knowledge is an out-there commodity that we can all get a chunk of. Even you, tie man. You don't own it all. How I wanted golf shirt to pipe in with what he was reading, what he was thinking.

That very day, we had a great conversation at school about teaching. I think that the good teacher does the same thing. The teachers I don't get into are the ones who are the givers of knowledge. Oddly enough, those teachers are the ones who tend to leave my school. Kids (at least mine) don't handle it well in the long run when you just pile it on from a podium. I am way more Socratic than all that and what is strange is that it somehow has bought me the reputation of being smarter. How? Knowledge is only knowing where to look.

Now how often do you see someone take a faith example and link it to their job? It's usually the other way around. Thanks, tie man and golf shirt. You gave me some good thinkin'. Just speak up next time, golf shirt!