Jim's Pond - Go, Explore, Contribute
"Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence."

--Napoleon Bonaparte

Thursday, April 7, 2005

Questions

Today was a whole new experience. I spent the entire day in Cedar City as a judge for the Southwest Utah Sterling Scholar competition. It's a competition that's been around a long time. I'd participated as a student many long years ago. This time I sat on the other side fo the table.

I really don't feel comfortable talking about any of the details. All I will say is that I met some amazing students. These kids are so much farther ahead than I was at their age. They are smart. There are so many more tools available to them. And they are motivated. Everyone of them is going to succeed. At least they have everything it takes for success.

In my youth I thought there was some magic formula. Or you had to be darn lucky. Now I realize that a little bit of brains and a ton of hard work almost always guarantee success. Oh, and the tenacity to nevery give up. You gotta keep picking yourself up every time you fall down. So it's really no secret at all. It's easy. And it's hard.

Fred Esplin, a professor at the University of Utah who taught me in two of my college courses, gave the key address at tonight's banquet. He's still at U, only now with more responsibility. He's also a Cedar City native and a very cool guy.

His theme tonight was about the questions we ask. The quality of those questions have a lot to do with the person we are and will become. Ask the right question, such as "where will I get my next fix?" and get one kind of outcome. Ask a different question, maybe "how can I best help others?" and get a whole different result. See. It's easy.

Fred's ideas about questions got me thinking. I have a friend in my neighborhood that has taken time to also be a teacher. He's a thoughtful guy. More often than I can even guess this teacher has told me, "reading is asking questions." It took him a few dozen times saying that for me to finally have it sink in. Now whenever I read I hear Doug's words ringing through my brain. "Reading is asking questions."

In some ways it's ruined my recreational reading enjoyment. I find myself wondering. Why did the author use a certain description? Was there a better way to say that? Is the message clear? Does it apply to me? On and on.

There was no such quote tonight from Fred. But I found myself thinking. Life is asking question. The quality of my life depends on the quality of the questions I ask myself........
9:40:51 PM    comment []






© 2005 Jim Stewart
Last Update: 5/3/05; 11:19:05 AM

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