11th Grade Flashback.
When I was in 11th grade there was a motivational speaker that came to my AP English class. I think my teacher had the hots for him. I don't remember his name, which is good.
The thing I do remember is the exercises he had us perform. First he told us some kind of lame story to relax us, and 'let us open our minds, and become free.' The whole time I remember I was thinking to myself, 'I should just stand up and say, "THANK YOU LORD I AM SAVED!"' but I didn't. I went along with the exercise.
I remember him telling us to close our eyes and walking through a door, you look at the door, see the molding, is it a fancy door? or a plain door? What is the door made of? I don't remember what my door was made of, but the next thing is what I do remember, the part of this exercise that explains one's personality.
So there is some relaxation fluff before hand, but it basically goes like this. The exercise begins. Ok, close your eyes. We are going to be walking into a room, now I am going to tell you what kind of room this is, and what is in the room. The first thing that pops into your mind as soon as I tell you what you see, write it down immediately. You see.. a dining room table, there is an object on the table, what is it??
My answer. A dog. Yes.. a dog standing there on the table, staring at me as if it's where he was supposed to be. Every single person in the class had a 'standard' answer, "flowers, table cloth, a fork, a plate, etc." Except one person. My good friend Chris Marshall, the only person I graduated from high school with who also moved to New York at some point.
Now this motivational speaker is going through the room telling people how their object translates into their personality. If you saw flowers, your personality is to brighten people's day, and be generally upbeat. A fork denotes strong willpower and desire to be a useful tool. A plate is a classical person, ornate and refined, or practical and trustworthy. This of course depends on whether we see the fine china or the Wal-mart $2.99 disposable Chinet paper shit. All well and good, right?
He then comes to Chris. Ok Chris what did you see on the table? Not even clearing his throat he says:
"Ice cubes." Completely straight face and he begins to rub his chin. My professor Dr. King bursts out laughing. The speaker looks at him and says, no really what did you see? Chris again says, "Ice cubes, on the table.. starting to melt." Hmmm... okay the speaker says, this is a tough one.
.... .....
.......
Ah! I have it! Ice cubes are always changing. They are never still, first they melt, then they evaporate, then they condensate, freeze, etc and the cycle begins again. So you Chris are always changing your mind or your focus.
"Hmm.." Chris says. "I'm not sure I buy that."
I had to say though, I was impressed with the explanation attempt. Moving on! Clint with the dog. Ok Clint you see a dog? Is it a big dog?
Does it matter? I can't honestly say I saw a particular dog, the first thing that popped into my head when you said dining room table was BAM dog. No image, just dog.
Geez Dr. King this is a rough crowd! Hmm.. ok a dog. Clint I am going to have to say that you are one amazing catch. When I hear dog it makes me think of my dog Peaches, and the catch all phrase, dog is a man's best friend. Your personality is that you have ingrained within your very soul undying loyalty and affection no matter how someone treats you.
Without skipping a beat, every girl in my class simultaneously blurts out, "Awwwww!"
The thing that reminded me of this story was a dream I had a few nights ago. My parents came up to NYC from Virginia last weekend. One story my dad told me was of our dog Einstein. He is a very old dog, and Bob told me that he is really beginning to fail. He has trouble walking up and down steps, eating food, going the bathroom, everything. It's really sad. This dream I had the other morning put me behind a fence, or barrier of some kind, glass or thin wire fencing or something. I saw Einy running towards me really fast. So incredibly fast. He was excited to see me! He leaps and slams into the fence and bounces off onto the ground. I run up to him and I hear him whimpering and crying. I put my hand on his chest and he whimpers more but I see no blood.
Right at that moment I woke up and suddenly started crying. He hurt himself trying to get to me, when I put my hand on his chest, I felt connected. That is true undying loyalty. I know he would never do any wrong to my family or me, but I worry that he might wound or kill himself trying to get to me, or please me. In the process he has grown up big, strong, and powerful; but has acquired many scars along the way. A metaphor for life?
You can learn a lot from a dog.
Einstein the Dog
Thursday, November 6, 2003
