Thank you, Mike, for putting my life in perspective for me. I've been lost for so long, but now I know the way. I am thinking of a Peter Frampton song...'show me the way...'
So, I haven't lived? Wow! You have special knowledge of me, because, so far as I remember it, I've lived a hell of a lot. Love my life, all the ups and downs and in betweens. I've packed a lot of them in. Lived in many different places, had many different kinds of friends, dated people from other countries, religions and races, read countless books, studied hard, partied, travelled around the world, been married, then divorced, been unemployed, had friends die, had loved ones pass away, have a baby on the way, smoked some damn good and damn bad cigars, and so on and so on and so on.
What is this magical thing called 'living' that I've failed to do? Or, more to the point, what is it about Magic Mike that allows him to know things about me that I don't know about myself?
Or, the ultimate question, will I have lived if I become a wacko right-wing christian mechanic living in the Bay Area? I suspect that this is what you mean by living...living like Magic Mike. Well, my friend, I will venture this thesis: you, despite being an old fart, haven't lived nearly as much as me. There. I said it. And I have about as much of a basis as your crazed claim that I am a 'youngster' (how old do I have to be to be addressed and treated like an adult? Christ!) who hasn't lived.
Funny, on an earlier note, that you ask 'what would your students think?' Well, bro, many of my students are Cbid regulars. The guerilla army is in place. What do they think? They know I am sarcastic, and some of them think my tirades and teasings are funny, some think they are pointless, some don't care either way. They know this **** is for fun and kicks, not some sort of meta-commentary on me as a person and my spiritual destiny. You see, I am their PHILOSOPHY PROFESSOR. I teach them about Aristotle, Kant, Nietzsche, Heidegger, etc., not anything else. You freaks seem to think I run a Marxist training camp. Most of my students haven't a clue what my politics are; they know I love hermeneutics and post-structuralism, and think both are rooted in Greek tragedy. And guess what...THEY LOVE ME!!! Ha on you! They love the way I explain the material and draw out the truths and untruths of the different theorists. Other than that, I'm the professor and their the students. It ain't a club.
The Cbid John...they couldn't care less. I am a professional, and I goof around on this bbs. Maybe I will teach high school someday. You should apologize for the tone of your exhortation to me to teach at a lower level. You made it sound like an insult. Teaching is a noble profession. You've never acknowledged that, so no surprise there.
Smooch! for Magic Mike, who knows my life better than I myself know it.
John
