DOES SHE HAVE TO BE SO TOUGH? Shortly after midterm exams a student stopped me as I was walking across campus. I asked her how her tests had gone and she said they were not too tough, except for one professor’s. Her tests are impossible to pass, she said. I have to study so much harder for her tests just to keep up my grades. But, I asked, do you learn more from all that studying for her tests, or from the teachers that are not so difficult? Well, yes, I do seem to understand her course better, she explained. But does she have to be so tough? So I asked her if she had ever sharpened a knife. Yes, she said, my Daddy taught my how to sharpen a knife when we went on a family camping trip. Did you use a stone or a towel? I asked. What, she questioned, you can’t sharpen a knife on a towel! Exactly! I answered. You can’t sharpen a knife on a towel. A knife can only be sharpened on a hard surface so that it will be sharp enough to fulfill its purpose and cut what needs cutting. I continued, Students, and children, too, cannot be sharpened on soft surfaces. They are sharpened on the hard surfaces of teachers and parents, so that they will be sharp enough to cut it in life and fulfill their life purpose. -- Fr. Brian Cavanaugh, TOR
Posted on: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 15:04:58 +0000
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