Shuffling, Alchemy and Mr N.

I had my end of school formal last night. Overall, it was a pleasant event, with average food, average music and good company. I learned to dance in a non-committed way, was asked to write an article about how awful alchemists are (especially modern ones) and given some extremely deep life advice from a more than slightly tipsy Mr N (actual name has been removed for the sake of not bringing such a great teacher into disrepute)).

The dancing thing is fairly self explanatory: I didn’t think I could dance, but there wasn’t much else to do so I sort of half shuffled while bobbing up and down. This seemed to be what most people did.

Onto the more interesting parts of the evening. Having written something praising alchemists in his blog, I challenged Nat’s views on them online. We had a follow up conversation last night, in which I was challenged to write an article about why magic isn’t real, amongst other things. This lead to an idea which I am proud to unveil now: An inter-blog debate. Basically the three of us (Nat, Reuben and myself) will take turns writing an article and responding to the previous person’s article. As for the topic, well it couldn’t be about public transport, magic or science (all unfair as we do not have equal understanding of them), so we settled for debating nothing less than the meaning of life itself. Keep your eyes peeled for the first in this thrilling series of articles, which should start in a few days.

Now on to Mr N’s advice: It was such a brilliant conversation that a general description would not do it justice. I will approximate a transcript, but don’t be shocked if it’s not word for word perfect. It was all a bit hazy anyway.

Setting: Outside the building of ‘Leonda by the Yarra’. Present are Mr N, Oskar, David, Reuben, Carlo, later Mr B.

Mr N: (walks up, slaps Oskar’s back, looks at David) You know what I like about this guy? He’s strait, he’s rational and he uses reason.

David: Yeah?

Mr N: (looks at Oskar) But you’ve got to remember that intellectual thought comes from other people, you’ve got to have dialogue, you know, loosen up a bit. You’ve got to make friends and relate to people.

Oskar: Mmm, yeah.

Mr N: You know there are different types of people. (looks at Reuben) Like you, you’re always pretending to be all pretentious, you think you’re better than other people, but you’re not. I keep telling you. But Oskar’s not like that, he just needs to relate to people. You can’t generate intellectual thought on your own. It comes from other people.

David: Yeah, I know what you mean, like if you’re going for a job interview or something then it helps to be social.

Mr N: Yeah, not really. I’ve hired heaps of people, you know I’ve been on boards and things and as soon as a social person walks in the room and starts talking to everyone we all look at each other and (shakes head).

David: Really? Maybe that’s not so much the case in the business sector.

Mr N: Yeah, I’m in education.

David: Because this job I’m going for wants people who can communicate well and socialize.

Mr N: No I mean like real jobs, like post-grad. They look for knowledge and qualifications.

David: Yeah, of course, but if two people are equally qualified then they’ll hire the social one.

Mr N: Not really, because social people are really just saying the same shit to everyone.

David: Yeah, I guess so.

Mr N: You see I think that rationality and reason will always win out in the end. (looks at David) but we disagree don’t we, you said you need to have faith too.

David: Well yeah, sort of. I think rationality is good to have, but you need to have principles too.

Mr N: No, yeah, principles. Yeah.

David: ‘Cause you can go down the wrong path if you don’t have principles.

Mr N: Yeah, of course, you’ve got to have principles. But you need to try different things to see what’s right. Like I’ve got this friend who’s a psychologist and he was a pianist before he was a psychologist. He had like, all the hair and expensive suits and stuff and he said you’ve got to be self indulgent sometimes. You’ve also got to try living like shit. Do them both for a few months and then see how you feel. But you can’t always do that. You don’t go and jump of a cliff because you want to experience extreme spinal pain. That’s where reason comes in.

All: Yeah/mmm.

Oskar: So do you think that principles can be arrived at from rationality alone?

Mr N: No, you’ve got to experience things, try things, risk you life, but don’t do anything stupid.

Mr B: (walks up to group) How’s it going?

Mr N: I’m just telling Oskar that he needs to listen to other people and relate to them. He’s a great motherf****r, but he needs to do that.

These guys are going to be the communist intellectuals. They’re the future.

Mr B: Mmm, and they’re going to have a much more difficult future than we ever had, but lets not get into that now.

Mr N: (shakes hands with Oskar) You’re a great motherf****r, but you need to relate to people. (shakes hands with David) And you need to talk to him. You can get the dialogue going and learn a lot from him.

David: Will do.

Mr N: (shakes hands with Reuben) And you’re a good motherf****r too. You have to stop looking down on people and pretending to look smart. (shakes hands with Carlo) And you need to listen. (gestures at Oskar, David and Reuben) You need to listen to him and him and him. For five years before you start doing anything.

Good luck with the future boys.

Oskar: Thanks for all the advice.

David: Yeah thanks.

(Mr Norman and Mr Bugler leave and get into a car and drive off. {Teachers drink driving? Surely not?})