Grasshopper No.4 recently told a story about Dominic getting a job mowing laws. Upon inspecting the completed job, there were many missed areas of grass. Dominic was forced to redo the lawn correctly and ultimately felt good about a job well done.
You have all heard me say "the teacher arrives when the student is ready". You can teach, and teach and teach but if the kid isn't listening, the effort is for naught. There is an artform in recognizing when a person is ready to receive information. These are magic moments and you don't always know when they are going to happen.
So the question is did Grasshopper No.4 really teach Dominic about doing a proper job when cutting grass or does he just think he did. Only Dominic and future performance will tell.
Now I will take you back 20 years. No.4 would cut our backyard lawn on Greenfield Street and I could watch as No.4 would miss large swaths of grass. No.4 didn't want to be cutting grass and he would only do it with headphones blasting hard rock music. So my teaching moment was to point out he had missed grass and I made him do it over. He never showed any remorse for missing swaths. He just "bopped" over the rows again and I was never sure he would get those cut properly. I always felt I had failed in my teaching moment because No.4 did not seem to respond effectively.
Fast forward to Dominic missing areas of grass and No.4 teaching him to do it right. Obviously I did teach No.4 but just didn't know it at the time because here he was teaching his son the same lesson. So No.4 got to experience the frustration I felt as he tried to teach Dominic. Did Dominic (the student) really learn from No.4 (the teacher) that cutting grass must be done right?
There is one nagging question that has always bothered me. Who is the teacher and who is the student? Maybe when Grasshopper No.4 was bopping up and down the uncut rows of grass he was teaching me to "lighten up". Who gives a damn whether every blade of grass gets cut or not? It is just grass. Maybe I was the student learning to put things in perspective. In hindsight it was comical and makes for a good story.
The lesson Grasshoppers is that life presents many opportunities to teach as well as learn. A commited teacher needs a receptive student to create an effective exchange. You will know when a teaching/learning moment has taken place. Be careful. Are you the teacher or the student?
Love,
Dad
Maybe I had a lousy teacher....