4 April 2012
Wonder, Worship & Wizardry
Whenever I start to learn something new, particularly in a
structured environment, I go through three distinct phases. The
first is wonder and awe. The universe seems new and exciting again
when standing at the depth of the vast pool of man's knowledge and
achievement.
Segway to 5 weeks into a semester, one hour into a seminar or
thirty minutes into a documentary and we begin to move towards
phase two. Worship. Also known as 'Please God' followed by a list
of requests:
- Make this person stop talking
- Let there be a fire alarm
- Make this training unnecessary
- Let the provided lunch be simply awesome
When prayer doesn't work - and surprisingly occasionally it does
- I move on to phase three.
Having exhausted the rational and traditional worlds I resort to
the worlds of magic and science fiction to make my final plea. Such
lines of thought and discussion have included:
- I wonder if I could alter the space time continuum to be both
here and somewhere else. (Usually a tropical island)
- If Harry Potter is SOOO magical, why can't he just zap the
information out of his book and into his head.
- Invariably this phase ends with me pretending to use the force
to have other people in the room do my bidding for general
amusement purposes. Or me using the force to choke them into
silence.
Now if I'm alone in my educational spiral please continue to
smile and nod reassuringly as you quietly back out of the room.
..
….
…..
Ha! I didn't think so. For those of you who remain my question
is threefold.
- Why is everybody else lying about doing exactly the same
thing?
- What is the most interesting training session you have ever
attended?
- Would every topic be more interesting if Bear Grylls presented
it?