One day recently I was at my favorite bakery here in town down here in the Sahara. After I had gotten my bread for the day, I crossed paths with the baker's son, whom I've taught English at the dar shebab (Darija, or Moroccan Arabic, for "youth center"), where I've done most of my volunteering as a Youth Development PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) here in Morocco.
He told me that he was headed on a trip to visit some relatives in another region of Morocco. I told him to have fun. He asked me what "fun" is! I explained "fun" to him by way of some examples. I told him that if you laugh with someone, you have fun with that person. I gave him some other similar examples, and he said that he had understood.
After we had parted ways, I thought about how apparently I hadn't previously taught him what the word "fun" meant. I couldn't believe that I hadn't taught him that word! And then I pondered a little more. I considered that it was more important that, in addition to teaching him English, I had tried to have fun with him; I had attempted to show him what I considered to be "fun," laughing with him, and having a good time with him over the last year and a half.
As I continued to meditate on explaining a concept, as opposed to knowing it because one feels it, I remembered that one can know many sensations, which is different from explaining them. I then recalled how Thomas à Kempis, in one of my favorite books, "The Imitation of Christ," muses, "I would rather feel compunction than be able to define it." It makes me think that how we live our lives is more important than what we say. And it has also made me think that I hope that I've taught here in Morocco through the way I've acted, perhaps hopefully moreso than in what I've said.
He told me that he was headed on a trip to visit some relatives in another region of Morocco. I told him to have fun. He asked me what "fun" is! I explained "fun" to him by way of some examples. I told him that if you laugh with someone, you have fun with that person. I gave him some other similar examples, and he said that he had understood.
After we had parted ways, I thought about how apparently I hadn't previously taught him what the word "fun" meant. I couldn't believe that I hadn't taught him that word! And then I pondered a little more. I considered that it was more important that, in addition to teaching him English, I had tried to have fun with him; I had attempted to show him what I considered to be "fun," laughing with him, and having a good time with him over the last year and a half.
As I continued to meditate on explaining a concept, as opposed to knowing it because one feels it, I remembered that one can know many sensations, which is different from explaining them. I then recalled how Thomas à Kempis, in one of my favorite books, "The Imitation of Christ," muses, "I would rather feel compunction than be able to define it." It makes me think that how we live our lives is more important than what we say. And it has also made me think that I hope that I've taught here in Morocco through the way I've acted, perhaps hopefully moreso than in what I've said.
