End of a Month and More

This day has my last round of classes. In the morning I finished with two young women of advanced levels with 90 minutes of speaking and listening. I had read an article recently about the life ideas of Thomas Jefferson. I read this aloud to them, asking them to take note of the lives he touched, his favorite things, political beliefs, personal advice, major contradictions, and overall lasting impression. In the end all they retained included his love for peas and walks. When asked about impressions, one remarked about his slave-master Hyde to his "All men are created equal" Jekyll, while the other was struck by his command to avoid idleness and the reminder that, "it is wonderful how much may be done when we are always doing." That was the impression left on me as well.


I asked them to follow up my story with one of their own, a Spaniard who dared to defy inertia and create a universe of a lifetime. They had none. Cervantes wrote something and changed the world. Ironically, what he wrote about was a another Spaniard in Spain who farcically attempted to do more. There was something to this and I sought to delve deeper while I was privileged to have two native Spaniards from different regions in the room to speak at my behest. Maybe this Renaissance man ideal of later centuries was a specifically Anglo/American obsession. It's true it was institutionalized in England for some time during the 18th and 19th centuries with societies of young noblemen who toured Europe and the Orient to absorb the cultures there. Why is it that we are so interested in the Other culture?

An answer that is sure to arise from the Other is that we simply have none of our own. This, of course, results from outdated and ignorant thought. For a moment, the student who was impressed said it's true that much can be done if you have the time and ability. But we looked closer at the maxim: "Determine never to be idle." There is always time, you have only to use it. Then it came out that so many people here allow their lives to accumulate routines, responsibilities, and cycles without taking the time to think about it, without seeking to improve. I asked for more. She continued that in most parts of Spain, outside cosmopolitan centers like Madrid and Barcelona, most people are aiming to study enough to secure lifetime government appointments that do not require much work. Careers that do not require thought. People want to buy houses so their family can always have it and live in it and pass it on.

The crux. There is a major shortage of curiosity. Suddenly 9months of accumulated memories of observed aversions to all foreign foods, aversions to deviations from established habits, and the lowest level of multilinguality I have seen in my life, all came into focus. People do not seem as interested, on a generalized geographical whole, to make assessments. Another student once put it succinctly: "People do not like to look for answers." Things have been done, therefore they should continue to be. Now many Spaniards no longer care for bullfighting. Take any ten and you'll invariably hear a majority say they don't like it. But only one or two will call for its end. Try asking for an explanation for the descrepancy, you get shrugs. Tradition.

The contradiction. For all our scientific pursuit of the world, our obsession with perfecting the beer, coffee, and the wheel, we can be a bit tiresome. Perhaps our efforts could be better directed at improving other things. I asked for lasting impressions of the outstanding characteristics of Anglo/Americans and the response was that we are too cool. I know, but seriously. Our emotions are kept tightly under wraps, and we are not very personal. In the lifts and stairwells, we don't say hello and see you later every time we see someone. That terrifies a Spaniard. It's like the death stare from a policeman to stand in a lift without a sprightly "hola." And then there's the enjoyment. While a lifetime perscription to tall glasses of ice and wine in the shady corners of ochre colored plazas overlooked by rows of black-iron balustraded balconies topped with terra-cotta tiled rooves may perhaps lead to a lethargic approach to assessment and improvment, if anyone knows how to enjoy the pleasures of this Earth it's the Spanish.

...

Today has also the end of my stay in my flat. I hand over my keys and get comfortable on a few couches while I await my final cheque and set off on a month or two of soul searching and earth scouring wherever I can around this old and complex land. Not a bad opportunity to come up with my own ideas about these recent revelations. Maybe I'll have something new to say after walking through villages and meeting fellow pilgrims. But first I've got a few more classes to close out, and a few more opportunities to see how Spaniards dig our old boy Jefferson's particular method of pursuing happiness.