Yesterday, I spent my whole morning, the whole of my afternoon and my early evening (up till 7:45 PM) just listening to the oral examinations of my students in Ethics. I must admit that after the last student had recited (and she really did her oral exam excellently), it is as if my whole physical energy was drained to the core—yet I felt deep elation and sense of achievement that most of my students did very well in this dialogic exercise, and that my explicating the various theories of Ethics (some of them abstruse and a bit complicated) was somehow comprehended by most of them. For me, listening to the oral examination of my students is always a moment of discovery and a time for me to appreciate the uniqueness of the personhood of each student of mine. Oftentimes, I see myself (when I was yet a student like them) in my students’ reactions during their oral exams—how they felt nervous in the same way that I was likewise nervous when facing oral examinations, graded recitations and reporting during my student days. There are students who are easily rattled when confronted with challenging questions; and there are many times when students had their, what I call, “grace moments”—moments of sheer spontaneous insights and lucid reflections during their oral examinations, which saved them from a fatal flop: an inspired insight that came to them just about the time the students need them. I always see myself in my students during their oral examinations: this is why I always take extra efforts to grade them fairly and justly, and I always scrupulously review my grades to see to it that I give them the grades they rightly deserve. During the oral examinations, the teacher will be able to observe the differences in the varied character and diverse attitudes of students. There are some students who are very respectful, while some tend to be very apologetic and tentative in responding to the oral exam questions, while others are oozing with self-confidence, bluffing their way in answering the questions—thinking that their Americanized enunciation of words will merit them a flat-one. There are students who came to my orals well-prepared to answer, while others simply armed themselves with their audacious bravado, or with their Monalisa smiles and innocent air of nonchalance and coolness, hoping that I will give them a passing grade due to their Buddha-like serenity. I feel that the variety of my students’ approaches and responses in taking my oral examinations show the truth of the existentialist’s hunch that all human persons are unique in their own way and unique in the manner by which they approach life’s challenges. I am often amazed at the uniqueness of each of my students as manifested more starkly during their oral exams! It is very enlightening to be able to truly see for myself the different reactions of my students during the oral exam, which in turn made me marvel at the unique, irreplaceability, unrepeatability and unfathomability of each human existent… Every person is a “unique flower”. I venture further to say that each person is radically a unique individual whose uniqueness and individuality cannot be mimicked and cannot be fully grasped by another. To feel the uniqueness of the human person beautifully and poetically, let me quote at length the words of the contemporary Indian mystic Shri Rajneesh Osho: “Drop the idea of becoming someone, because you are already a masterpiece. You cannot be made more valuable—you are the ‘value’ itself; you are the signature pearl from Existence’s generosity. You have only to come to it, to appreciate it, to realize it, and to feel that Existence is incomplete without you… You are not accidental. Existence needs you. Without you, something will be missing in Existence and nobody can replace it. That’s what gives you dignity, that the whole universe will miss you—if you did not exist. The stars and sun and moon, the trees and birds, and earth and seas—everything in the universe will feel a significant place is missing without you; which cannot be filled by anybody except by you—by you, alone!” (From Osho’s booklet: “The Sheer Celebration of Be-ing and Just-Be”, Pune: India, p.36). To put it very candidly: every person is the irreducible, the irreplaceable, the “one-and-only flower” among other unique flowers in the Garden of Existence. There would be no other “me” except me; in the same way that there would be no other “you” except you. Therefore, love yourself and celebrate your unique self—for there will be no other “you” except the “you” that you really are! You are eternally significant in the Greater-Scheme-of-Things. So truly live with this truth in mind, and you will never see yourself as ordinary or insignificant ever again! (Written by Prof. Henry Francis B. Espiritu on November 6, 2014 at 7:02 PM. This present article is an expansion of Prof. Espiritus essay which he had previously posted on September 30, 2013 here in his Facebook Page.)
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 12:52:44 +0000
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