Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Son of...Naiveness

This last week I was in an art supply store and was looking through the prints when I saw this painting, Son of Man, by Rene Magritte.

Although it is one of my favorites it is just another reminder of how incredibly ridiculous I can be.

My sophomore year in high school in my biology class our teacher was trying to hold an intelligent conversation with our class (a difficult task I’m sure) and asked us, “What makes the world go round?” I raised my hand boldly (and apparently naïvely) and said, “LOVE!” My teacher looked at me, cocked her head, gave me a sad look, and said, “Uhh…no Ande, that’s very sweet, but money makes the world go round.” A little deflated I replied, “oh…right.”

You would think I would have learned…

During my literary interpretation class this last semester we were talking about symbols in literature. Up to this point in the semester I felt like all my comments were fairly intelligent contributions to the class and that I was overall doing a pretty good job interpreting the literature we had been reading. My teacher, Brother d’Evegnee, asked us what the forbidden fruit was, being the naïve little girl I am I raised my hand and said confidently, “An apple!” By the look he gave me I figured that that obviously wasn’t the answer so I tried again, “Oh…right, a pear.” His look, again, said it. I then caught on and said, a bit too enthusiastically, “Oh! Sex!”

Moral of the story? Never raise your hand in class to contribute unless you’re absolutely sure what you are about to say is somewhat intelligent and doesn’t make you sound like a girl that has been raised in a closet.

7 comments:

Neighbor Jane Payne said...

Oh, Ande. You make me laugh. Your closing line was a classic in light of #77 on your list of 99 Things about Ande.

I thought the title of your post was so clever, what a perfect play off the title of the picture.

I love your sense of humor and your zest for life.

Unknown said...

Ande-I'm getting to much better at just waiting a minute before I answer any question. I forgo some of the glory, but also alleviate some of the inevitable embarrassment as well - because it's about a 50/50 chance either way.

You are a classic, Ande - I love reading your blog already. Thank you for writing more consistently than your sister. Maybe you guys could have a contest of blog consistency - I will gladly provide a prize :)

melanie said...

HA HA! I'm laughing because I always think to raise my hand confidently and then decide against it. And then when the person says what was already in my head and it's wrong, I breathe a sigh of relief. I love your confidence!

Donna Chapin said...

Ande-
I love reading your blog. And I can relate so well.
Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Ande, I've learned to try out comments with the "whomever" lives in my head.

Depending on her response, I can chose to vocalize or not. And most of the time I thank her for helping me keep my mouth shut. I suppose I should give her a name one of these days, but I hate getting personal; then she'll expect me to chat occasionally or remember important dates, and really-- who needs that? But I'm guessing you made at least 30 other students think, "Gee, I'm glad I didn't say that." And that probably made them feel good about themselves. What a great service you provided!

Kick and a hug.

Aunt Lynn

Darla said...

Ande,
I love your blog... You crack me up.....

So many times, I've opened mouth inserted foot but I guess that's part of life... I always just try & laugh at myself...

Carolyn said...

HAHA! Oh that was awesome. I always, and I mean ALWAYS do that. For some reason, I just don't know when to not answer.