Opus 2026-083: Living up to Mediocre

One of the big disappointments in my life is that I am not an expert in anything.  If you car is making a funny noise and you ask me if I know what that sound is, all I can do is hum a few bars.  If your vacuum isn’t working well I might suggest emptying the bin.  Lawn mower won’t move?  I can point out that it is a push mower.  After that I might suggest a pair of scissors.   If they want to know where the book of Amos is I am glad to direct them to the table of contents.

I can show people how to write a complete sentence but no one cares about such things any more.  I can preach them a sermon but I can’t make them turn their hearing aids on.  

When I was teaching it wasn’t such a challenge.  Teachers don’t get out much.  When they would come to me and say their computer didn’t work I would suggest checking to see if it was plugged in.  Usually that solved the problem.  They thought I was a techo-wizard.  If they could not get their key to work in the door all I needed to point out was that there was another key on their ring.  I could feel like the one eyed man in the land of the blind.  One of the sayings I used to post in my room to keep me humble was, “Being the deepest puddle on the sidewalk is nothing to brag about.”

homo unius libri