Collisions

I think I've mentioned here before the element of vampirism in my work. Sometimes this tired old geezer finds himself feeding off the energy of the young people he's lucky enough to come into contact with - one of the few real perks of the job.

There was a good example of this today. A class I teach was involved in a discussion partly relating to Athol Fugard's wonderful play 'Master Harold'... and the boys. There's a beautiful metaphor in the play developed by one of the characters, Sam, of ballroom dancing as a wonderful world without collisions in which real human potential can be expressed - a better kind of society than that of the Apartheid era South Africa in which he lives and in which he has to find a way to stay human.

One of the students participating in the discussion, Barnabas, built on this in a very powerful manner. Comparing the world of the play to our little world, he ruefully pointed out the sad reality of the collisions we inevitably face with each other on this island, but suggested that the thing to do was to keep on dancing, to strive for the beauty of the dance despite those collisions. I'm paraphrasing here, a bit clumsily, and can't capture the earnestness with which he conveyed the idea, but I can tell you how moved I was at the notion. The circumstances were such that I chose not to express my feelings, and I'm guessing no one around the table would have quite understood me if I had drawn attention to my reaction, but it's a moment I won't soon forget. More than food for thought - food for feeling.