I love the ellipsis… Personally it bothers me when someone tells me the obvious. I enjoy filling in the blank myself. I also like to think and having to figure things out. Oh, and I love to argue. Do you have a problem with that?
I also prefer to approach things from unusual directions. Like in college when I wrote an article that I titled “Crime Pays.” My editor didn’t see what I was trying to do so she changed the title to “Crime Doesn’t Pay” when the newspaper went to press. How boring. With a title stating the obvious, there’s obviously no reason for anyone to read it. Whereas a title like “Crime Pays” grabs the attention and the reader must then read the article to find out more.
Which for us writers, this is our sole/soul goal; get people to read us. We must be read or we lose our life force and return to mere nocturnal creatures with pale skin, bad eating habits and blood shot eyes. Being read is what transforms your average vampire into a journalist. But I digress.
For all these reasons and more the ellipsis is my friend. Not my best friend, that role is reserved for my longest grammatical friend and confidant, the run on sentence and his cousin the sentence fragment. Ellipsis is up there. Somewhere. Probably 3rd place. Nemesis? Properly utilized commas and punctuation. Thanks for asking.
So back to the never met a student title. Of course, I’ve met a student. Actually as I prepare to start my 11th year of teaching I have had thousands of students come into my class and I do my best to meet and get to know everyone of them.
The ellipsis leaves out the vital part. But for the origin of the phrase I must go back to the famous Oklahoman (yes, there has been only one – unless you count country singers … which no one does) Will Rogers. He said that he had “never met a man he didn’t like.” I remember my mother explaining it to me that what Will Rogers was saying is that as he got to know someone he always found something about that person that he liked.
Simple and yet very profound. Well, as a teacher I can in all honesty plagiarize (yes I’m aware of the dichotomy in the previous two words, which is what makes them funny … to me) Will Rogers and say that “I’ve never met a student I didn’t like.”
And it’s true. I have found something great in every student that I’ve taught. The more I get to the know them the more I find worthy of liking. So it stands to reason that some students I like more but that is simply because I got to know them better. And in continuation which students do I get to know better? The ones that want to get to know me. There is probably some profound truth hidden here so I’ll leave an ellipsis and let you find it yourself…
And we’re back.
The thought that has been bouncing around like a marble with ADHD inside my head is… How can God possibly love everyone? And maybe He loves me, but does He like me? And, wow…(this is when it hits me) … (yes, that was a redundant ellipsis) … God likes each and every one of us. Because he knows us and wants to get to know us more and forever.
This will sound real cheesy but that is the thing that I’m looking forward to most in heaven … getting to know everyone. I can (and will) spend much of eternity just talking and getting to know every single person in heaven. This sounds like such a blast. As a historian, of course, I’ll be asking them lots of questions. And as an egotist I, of course, will be telling them all about me. And since its heaven they’ll have no option but to like it … <insert diabolical laugh here>.
I’ve been thinking about this entry for years. I routinely look over my classes in old yearbooks and being a pack rat I still have many of the gifts, cards, notes and select assignments from students from the past 10 years. I can’t help but wax nostalgic as I look over these mementos. Each face, in the yearbooks, represents a unique person that I got to know for a moment in time, and each note, gift, or assignment is evidence of a personal connection.
Of course, the problem with liking every student one has taught, combined with the pack rat mentality means I still have boxes and boxes of stuff that fill up my classroom. But that’s okay because I’ve never met a box full of rich memories …
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