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The Awakening Rude or Otherwise

by Terry Barlow
10/12/20
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Mr Kohler was one of my favorite teachers in high school, if not my absolute favorite. He and another favored teacher, Mr Brickley, had crafted a new humanies course which was also an all time favorite. In that class we were introduced to the history of philosophy and to the writings of CS Lewis. The ideas of John Stuart Mill were especially exciting for me to read and learn about in that class. Those two teachers were so innovative that they even allowed a friend of mine to bring in and play an exciting new jazz saxophone album by John Coltrane. The name of that album was "A Love Supreme." The day we devoted precious class time to listen to that album was the apex and climax of my high school academic experience. The friend and musician who provided that music for us was not even a student in the class, but his sister was. He had heard about the class and about my contribution to the class and had approached his sister saying something like, "I heard Terry Barlow is really smart." His sister answered with this stinging comment. "He's not as smart as he thinks he is." I probably needed to hear that in some way back then, but still I have consoled myself since reasoning with myself in this way, "is anybody as smart as they think they are".? Indeed, is the one who made that statement as smart as she thinks she is? There may be a few who are actually smarter than they think they are I suppose. But I think there are more in the former camp than the latter. My musician friend asked me at an earlier reunion what I thought of liberation theology, the church's poor attempt to accommodate Marxist elements in Latin America. From what I knew of it I stated plainly that it had become "unhinged from Christ." His frowning reaction to that assessment indicated that he didn't agree. But we continue as friends to this day, albeit from a long distance.

Mr Kohler would often wisely say to us in class, "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing." He knew how liable we were to become overproud of ourselves as a result of what we were learning in that class, as though we were superior to the rest of our classmates.
One day I encountered Mr Kohler scurrying around in a supermarket with an elderly lady in tow. The older lady was his mother. I smirked at him and must have teased him some for still needing his mother at his age. (He was probably in his forties at the time.) He turned toward me and said rather sternly and prophetically, "Terry, you're in for a rude awakening." He was so right. I was probably in for a dozen rude awakenings as it turned out in the coming months and years. How did he know? Because I had made it so obvious in my insensitivity and immaturity. Again I reason, "weren't we all in for a rude awakening as we entered the "real world" from our school and college days?" Yes but some more than others. Aren't we all still in for a rude awakening? Yes, but some more than others. I hope and expect that we are all in for another Great Awakening, like the moral rennaisance and rebirths we have known in our early history as a nation,  and for most if not all it will in some ways also be a rude awakening.

Fast forward fifty years to the most recent class reunion I attended and what was one of the most redeeming things about that reunion. It wasn't in the revitalizing of old friendships, it was in the forging of two new friendships with classmates that traveled in totally different circles in those high school days. One of those friendships, the one in which there continues to be intermittent interaction, was forged with the sister of my musician friend, the very lady who had said that I wasn't as smart as I thought I was.  I reminded her of her words in a good natured way and she smiled. I hope she recognizes more of a tempered intelligence and a humility in me these days, the many notches I have been knocked down by life. The fruit is lower on the branches nowadays, easier for the plucking. I am delighted to keep adding new friends in my life, new friends like her and the other alumnus at the reunion. Those with whom w. once thought we had so little in common but are finding otherwise, may such as these continue to multiply. For example, my new friend's brother and I used to look down on certain jazz musicians as being "uncool." Yet we hadn't even really listened to their music. Turns out after closer scrutiny they played with a lot of skill and intensity after all. So it is that our horizons can and were meant to be ever expanding.