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Back in the student heydays, my battle-cry was "Seize the day!" This was when nothing was impossible for my partners-in-crime and I. Monetary resources were low but youthful energy and enthusiasm made up for it. Seize the day - a rallying call to action, to grab that moment before it was lost.
I was inspired by the movie, "Dead Poets Society" which popularised the phrase and fired up my imagination. A Peter Weir production, it starred the late Robin Williams as an English teacher who stirs his students from the bindings of their stuffy surroundings with his unconventional teaching methods. He encourages his students to challenge the norms and to think for themselves.
Who wouldn't have loved to have a teacher inspire you to "suck the marrow out of life"? And to make you realise that you can make a difference in the world. Wow. You may find yourself remembering the one teacher in your life that made you enjoy learning.
The movie is a great showcase for literature. It's where I first heard an excerpt from Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken which I share here:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
I recommend you look up the poem and enjoy it in full. I certainly hope you will watch Dead Poets Society as well if you haven't already.
(Note: Please be aware that the movie may come with a PG rating in your country as challenging issues are broached.)
Theatrical Release Poster sourced from www.impawards.com, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6755817
Postscript added on 10 Oct 2023: Note: Thank you to those who have written to let me know you enjoy reading my column but daren't take a lesson because there are parts you don't really understand. I assure you we'll always speak at a level which suits you so that we can enjoy a casual conversation. Also, we can go through words and sentences that are difficult so that we learn together. Perhaps, they will be easy then and we'll always have something to talk about. No stress!
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