Tuesday, March 8, 2011

My Own Way

  
Please teach me nothing.
Let me find my own way.
Let me make my own mark on the wall,
Below the millions who have come before me,
Above the millions who behind me crawl.

Please show me nothing.
Let me use my own eyes.
Let me contemplate the world I see,
Here in the moment, from the my own perspective,
To witness and imagine what could be.

Please sing me nothing.
Let me hear my own song.
Let me hear the music of the land,
From melodies that blow through windy canyons,
To beating waves that crash upon the sand.

Please give me nothing.
Let me earn my own way.
Let me find a way to show my worth,
To add coin of gratitude for my time,
For all the days I walked upon this earth.
  

4 comments:

Alana said...

Beautiful!
AAA

Pam said...

Sounds a bit like Dao. It's that
centered place with no name where we make that great connection to the universe.

Randy Johnson said...

Thank you :) This poem sprang from a recent discussion I had with a man about whether it’s better to be formally taught something, or better to explore it first with fewer preconceived notions. While a world class education on a subject would rightly be expected to produce top quality results, might it also squash creativity and originality that could never be fully regained? Which is really of more value, the ability to produce top quality results within a predefined paradigm or originality?
…and in the poem I go one step further and wonder if since the ultimate teacher would be God (if one exists) then maybe he/she/it opted for the second notion, and just dropped us here on this little blue classroom without teachers or textbooks to see how well we work unsupervised. This would be my suspicion, since all the so called teachers (pronounced preachers) we do have seem to use different textbooks, and claim to report to a different principle’s office. I don’t know… maybe I’m just daydreaming and staring at a blank blackboard.

Pam said...

As a retired teacher, I can honestly say, the only thing that should be taught is reading. Then stand back and watch the creativity.