Our child
For years now,I have been going to an indoor swimming pool because I love to swim and also because the feel of water makes me calm and alive.The hours that I swim are between 1p.m. and 3p.m.,since this is the time which I am free(due to the afternoon private lessons)and also because during those hours there are few swimmers coming to the pool.During this time there are also no young people,which means peace and quiet. Three years ago,I noticed a little boy who came to the swimming pool with a private swimming instructor.I took notice of him first of all because during these hours there are no children but also because this little boy looked puny,fragile,scared and not very willing to follow his coach΄s instructions. I calculated(wrongly) that the little boy must have been between 7 and 8 years old.One time,when I was swimming, I approached the little boy and spoke to him in a down-to-earth way,telling him that he shouldn΄t be afraid,and that he should feel comfortable with water because it was an ideal way to exercise. The child listened calmly to what I had to say while his woman instructor showed tension and even some hostility.It was then that I realised that the boy was under special supervision and control.
During the last 25 years that I have been giving lessons to young and old,from children with learning disabilities to young people wanting to undertake their higher studies in a foreign language,I have discovered a common factor among all of those young individuals.This factor for me represents a valuable tool to better understand the psyche and the personalities of all my students,both female and male.This common element can be described as follows:During the course of the lesson ,many young people have the tendency to make “doodles” or abstract drawings on pieces of paper,on pages of note-books,or even on my cigarette or cigar packages.These sketches are of great value to me because they are spontaneous creations describing or defining the real situation or disposition of the person. It is the subconscious expressing itself,meaning the truly creative and revealing aspect of the human persona, exactly like the dreams.
The text which follows was sent during Christmas to my site by the mother of an old student of mine. She and her son are regular readers of the site,something which I greatly appreciate.I believe that the text,whose author remains anonymous,projects values which have a lot in common with the general philosophy of the site.The original text was written in Greek.