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The college students gathered
together in a group, sitting on the
grass on the college campus. Soon, the
boy protégé joined the gathering. He was
twelve years old, and most people new
him to be a genius. He was a college
student whose major was in philosophy.
The students begin to question the young
philosopher about the times we are
living in.
One student put a question to the boy
genius, “What is behind all the problems
in the world today?” Everyone’s ears
perked up to hear what the young
philosopher had to say.
He responded, “The problem of today is
the people of today. It is the people
who make the times, not the times that
make the people. The trouble in the
world is with man himself.”
“But people seem so different from one
another”, replied another student. “What
do you make of that?”
The young protégé’s response came
without a moment’s hesitation. “We are
90% alike, all we people, and 10%
different. The trouble is that we forget
the 90% and remember only the 10% with
which we criticize each other. One man’s
plight is humanity’s plight. We are all
in this together.”
Another student inquired, “At what point
in life do we ourselves become part of
the problem?” All the other students
moaned in unison.
The twelve year old’s response was
eagerly awaited. “Long before the child
learns to talk properly—and long before
it thinks philosophically—the world will
have become a habit. It is up to the
adults to change the world so as to
avoid becoming a bad habit for our
children.”
The next question came from a foreign
exchange student who asked, “It seems
that everyone, regardless of their own
culture, has an opinion about how we
should live and behave. What do you
say?”
“Beware—private opinion creates public
opinion. Public opinion overflows
eventually into nationalistic behavior
as things are arranged at present, and
can make or mar the world we live in.
That is why private opinion, and private
behavior, and private conversation, are
so terrifyingly important. Often, when
countries have different opinions about
each other, they go to war over them.”
“Another thing,” said the student,
“doesn’t it seem like we have all become
slaves to our lifestyles?”
The response from boy genius was
insightful, “What a curious phenomenon
it is that you can get men to die for
the liberty of the world who will not
make the little sacrifice that is needed
to free themselves from their own
individual bondage. We have become
slaves to our desires.”
“Why do you suppose we feel a need to
compare?” asked a student sitting next
to him.
The boy genius responded, “Comparison is
the expedient of those who cannot reach
the heart of the things compared. We do
not learn to understand the heart of a
thing by means of dividing it, and then
comparing what we ourselves divide.”
“Why can’t people stay focused on a
single question at a time?”
To the protégé it was obvious, “Both
sides of a question do not belong to the
poor old question at all, but to the
opposing views which bedevil it. People
want to superimpose their opinions,
rather than make a serious attempt to
unravel the question. Also, people have
conditioned themselves to ignore the
facts in hopes that they will cease to
exist. To top it off, you have the
stupid who are always cocksure, and the
intelligent who are full of doubt.”
“Do you have a pet peeve—if you will,
something you find particularly
troublesome?”
“Yes”, replied the philosopher, “Those
who corrupt the public mind are just as
evil as those who steal from the public.
People get upset when company CEOs raid
the company coffer—but they don’t seem
to give a second thought to a
politician, a preacher, or a teacher who
misleads or misrepresents the facts.”
The philosopher took one final question
before leaving for an appointment. The
question was “What do you see as the
void mankind is experiencing at
present?”
“I have made this observation,” said the
protégé, “Man insists not only on being
satisfied, but also on being able to
satisfy, on Being a Need . . . the one
major anxiety is, ‘Am I Needed’? We all
have a purpose that we individually must
serve—which provides meaning to our
existence.” He then he rose to his feet
and departed.
V.P. Mosser
©2001-2008 V.P. Mosser
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Successful entrepreneur, V.P. Mosser is
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and numerous thought-provoking articles.
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