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| Wednesday, 19 May 2004 |
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My own poem : A pilgrim's progress Gleanings by K.S. Sivakumaran Anguish, fear, anxiety, uncertainty - all deride me into utter hopelessness like a mighty shadow, they clog together unwrapping me, a mere vegetable, not an organic being. Why? I wonder. I am clueless. My own seeking? My two legs In two boats restrained, but extended desires lure. moderation - the golden mean gone forever? The dire need to survive? Remain unobligatory? Illusory, enigmatic energy enter my selfish arena: I struggle reasoning belatedly. Why this? I implore you: Guide me. What am I? - a worm crawling to fathom the Ocean of Maya with enlightenment none. Stream of Consciousness thoughts Run amok and drive me to absorb: What's known in one's palm unknown like voluminous globe. Awaiting salvation my continuous Pilgrims Progress. Words, words, words. Let's look at some of the words that make up a price of writing - prose or poetry. We say a garland of verse, an anthology of poetry, a collection of poems and the like to refer to a book of this kind. A volume of whatever writing or an anthology can also be called by another word: Florilegium. This word was initially applied to a collection of flowers, and to books about flowers. Later, it was used to refer to a collection of the flowers of literature. Even the word 'anthology' comes from the Greek word for 'flower gathering', we learn. A gathering of a bouquet of literary blossoms would be a pleasant task for compilers or 'gleaners' like me. Wysiwig is another word that is interesting. It is a noun, it is also used as modifying another noun. We gather that it was originally used in word processing and desktop publishing. Now, it is found in Web editors and other programs used to create electronic documents. WYSIWYG is an acronym for 'What You See Is what You Get'. The word is in existence for the past two decades or more. It is used for a display generated by word processing or desktop publishing software that exactly reflects the appearance of the printed document. The English language borrowed a French word in the 13th century. The word was 'orgillus'. William Shakespeare adapted this word as orgulous and used it in his play 'Troilus and Cressida' to refer to the haughty princes who wanted to take revenge for the abduction of Helen of Troy, immortalized in the great Greek epic, The Iliad. The word, 'orgulous' was not in use for nearly 200 years after Shakespeare. We gather that in 1800s, Robert Southey and Sir Walter Scot used it in their works. The Stream of Consciousness writers, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf have fondly used this word to denote pride. So what the word means now is proud. Indeed John Keats was right: A thing of beauty is a joy for ever. Latin Possessing physical beauty can be attributed to an adjective - pulchritudinous. But this word is pronounced as 'pek kri TUD nes'. The word comes from Latin and it has two levels of meaning. The Latin word is 'pulchritudin'. It means at one level - beautiful, fair or handsome in shape and appearance. At another level it has a spiritual or moral sense. 'Pulcher' means fine, noble, honourable or even bright or shining as in the Latin 'parere', we learn. Thinking about Greek epics, another heroic epic poem in Greek literature comes to mind. The title of this work is "The Battle of Frogs and Mice". It recounts a tiny struggle around a small pond using outblown terms that recall the siege of Troy. This work was originally attributed to Homer, the great Epic Poet. But researchers now say it probably dates from the 5th century BC. Please do not get me wrong. I neither knew Greek or Latin. But I researched into vocabulary and thanks to ArcaMax coming to my help. And it is presented to you for your easy reading. Positive thinking One thing I like in the west is that positive thinking is ingrained in everyone's mind from the very young age. This helps them to strive hard and achieve positive results. The walls in the classrooms in the Middle and High Schools are full of encouraging thoughts that the children read them almost daily and this helps them to focus the training in positive ways. Take for instance, what I found in a classroom at a High School in Cincinnati where I work as a substitute teacher. 'Try' is the keyword. The top 10 secrets to success are: Just keep trying. Try to determine what is working. Try to determine what is not working. Try to find someone who has done it. Try and ask for help. Try it a little differently. Try it again tomorrow. Try once more. Try again. Try. This reminds me of what an American Jesuist priest wrote in my exercise book while I was studying in a junior form at St.Michael's college in Mattakalappu. I was weak in my English, and not that I am any better now. But I try to be good. Anyway Rev. Fr. Sutcliffe marking my composition called me to his desk and said, 'Siva, you are doing fine, but just take a look at it and follow. You will be great. 'He showed me what he had written in my notebook filling each of the 20 lines on the page - 'Siva, read, read, read... and write, write, write. 'Believe me, from that day somewhere in the 1950s, I started reading and continue to be a voracious reader. And as a teacher, I in turn, asked my students - either in the Maldives or Oman or Sri Lanka or the U.S. - to keep in mind some tips in answering tests. All teachers anywhere in the world give these tips and it would do good if students and teachers remind ourselves of these again. These are the tips: Read all directions carefully. Read all questions carefully. Be sure you know what is being asked. Look at all choices before you answer. Eliminate answers you know are wrong. Paraphrase the questions. Think carefully. Check your work. Do your best. Here are some tips regarding study skills: Pay attention in class. Take good notes. (The students are not given tons and tons of notes by teachers for the students to 'cram'. Instead they are encouraged to take their own notes when the teacher explains a lecture or give a short lecture. In this way, the students are kept alive, active and alert.), Keep an organized note book for each subject.( Each student is given a locker to keep their books), know the purpose of each assignment, and ask questions in class. Review, review, review - it can help retain 80% of the information, plan a definite time and place for studying each day, study for a while and take short breaks, Don't cram for hours the night before a test, Study a little bit each day, Think positive. Do your best. Learning in the U.S. Here in the United States the school curricula are interesting, comprehensive and skills oriented. Trying to help the students assimilate the basics in small doses and not tire them with heavy tasks is admirable. And the young minds absorb them at ease. Would you believe that Grade 7 students do by themselves projects on filming (digital too) and editing in the computer? Journalism, broadcasting, psychology and the like come under the category of Language Arts. Reading, Creative Writing are all part of English teaching. Literary criticism and individual interpretative expressions are encouraged. The students are not taught Grammar per se. and most of them write well. Classical and popular and Juvenile fiction are part of their studies. All students up to Grade 11 will have to follow courses in General Science, Integrated Science, Maths, English and Social Studies and Computing. They gather some kind of knowledge in almost all aspects of learning. Even in a math book you may have references to Literature. The students connect relate knowledge in understanding the subject in perspectives. Some bright students from different teams in a particular grade come together in Advanced Placement Class . Slowly progressing students are under the guidance of Specialists. In this way, each and every student is taken care of at various levels of their capability. If you take History, students learn world history, European History and American history, all taught by teachers specializing in each area. All books prescribed are not only exclusive of the particular field of study but also related to allied areas and are multi disciplinary. This way the student quickly becomes familiar with composite and updated knowledge and skills. In Advanced Placement American History for instance the students have an interesting and candid discussion on Social Issues. I thoroughly enjoyed such a class last week with students asking a lot of questions and interacting with them agreeing and disagreeing with some of the issues from my point of view. Nothing is taboo All issues are discussed. And the gratifying thing after the exercise was that they come and shake your hand calling you 'You're awesome and cool'. Again a positive thinking !. They were all between 16 and 18 years of age. I wish that in Sri Lanka, we must restructure the learning process and the selection of areas of study to be in consonance with current knowledge. Ideas Gleaned Here are some ideas which shaped the world and continues to influence minds and help them activate these thoughts into productive enterprises: 1. Don't wait for opportunities. Knock and create them. 2. Do not become a mere recorder of facts, but try to penetrate the mystery of the origin. 3. The Government is US. We are the Government, you and I (Theodore Roosevelt). 4. Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people (John Adams). 5. I am because I think I can. 6. Excellence knows no gender, race, ethnicity, language, religion. 7. Smile, it's the first thing people like about you. 8. I didn't stumble 1,000 times... the light bulb was an invention with 1001 steps (Thomas Edison). 9. To encourage literature and the arts is a duty which every good citizen owes to his country. 10. Do what you can,with what you have, where you are. 11. There are no shortcuts to life's greatest achievements. 12 What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. (Oliver Wen dell Holmes). 13. Minds are like parachutes - they function only when open. 14. Smile - it takes only. 13 muscles. A frown takes 64. 15. A bad conscience has a very good memory. 16. Having a sharp tongue can cut your own throat. 17. It is with words as with sentences; the more they are condensed, the more they burn (James Thurber). 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