Well, That Shut My Mouth

For some reason, I woke up with the phrase, "too good to be true" on my mind. "Too good to be true"? What in the world? Where did that phrase come from? If it's good, can it not be true?

Yesterday while at Trader Joe's the lovely young cashier asked what I was doing for the evening. I made some lame responses, like "cooking dinner" and "reading." He said, "Just marinating? Cool." Is that what I actually said?

Recently, I decided I needed to work on getting the education that I was deprived of as a child in the public school system. So I am studying Latin (Kiernan, with a Classics minor from Hillsdale, is my teacher); Greek through CLRC; and the Apprenticeship with CiRCE.

Through these studies, I realized something. Reading Latin, Greek, Socrates, and David Hicks shuts your mouth.

I wake up contemplating the real meanings of words. I'm more conscious of a sentence.

I remember that I have a blog, but I'm hesitant to write now because I've had my mouth shut. I feel more the responsibility to say things correctly, to say things well. I'm so much more aware of my lack.

That's what a classical education does. It make you aware of your lack. It humbles you. It shuts your mouth.

Occasionally, I look on my daughter's Facebook page and read all the comments. Some of those people need to have their mouths shut.

I'm not the one to decide who those particular people are, of course, although I have my opinions. :-) My point is that if we all were given a classical education, more people would be thoughtful and controlled in what they are saying.

When my girls were in high school I did not require a lot of "expressing" of what they were learning. For years and years it probably looked like we weren't really doing much around here because I didn't require them to produce much. It's only been since they've gone to college that all of those words and ideas from their classical education have begun to show outwardly.

It takes a lot longer to get a classical education (a lifetime!) and even longer for it to show its fruit, but I'd trade my get-the-basics education (reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic) for it any day.

And it shuts your mouth for a while.