Peace Offering...

Ross posited the choice: "Life as a chain of good deeds... Life as a chain of colossal mistakes..."  He had chosen the good deeds... and he lived spreading his goodness around... 
We attempt to forget our errors in life... We always live with the "what if..." and hence after immerse ourselves in the present and commit yet another error to add a link to the chain...
But Ross indulged in the goodness of everything... His way of living was The Theory of the Goodness for Everything... but at times he avoided to take a position... It happened one morning... when I related to him that a teacher told me "go where you came from..."; Ross just joked... "Europe would be good this time of the year..." 
I was annoyed, "Ross are you defending their racist position...?" I snapped and walked out...
Ross realized that I was annoyed... and after I had completed my teaching for the first period... Ross appeared in my classroom... He had brought a cup of coffee from the nearby store and couple of donuts... he placed them on my desk... "Peace offerings...," He said... and noticing that I am not over the morning incident yet... left without another word...
The coffee was good... though, I wish it was spiked... The donuts I gave away to students...
Ross reappeared again just after the second period... This time he had an icon from the chapel... He said; "I am trying to give my personals away before I retire and I wanted you to have this..." and together we decided where to hang it in my classroom... 
The peace offerings were accepted... and he apologized for being insensitive... I wanted him to take the lead in crushing racist attitudes... But I realized that he will never be confrontational and speak against racist attitudes...

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This month is Black History Month and I thought I will relate this anecdote to you... and remember Ross...

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Ross always loved the WORD... He said; "Each word is a world in itself and it is up to you to travel in it..." He loved to read books... hard-copy... the old fashioned way... and once he completed reading the book he passed it to others... He was a very greedy reader... bought all that he fancied... and read them too... 

I love the WORD too... and I get involved in their etymology... Etymology opens up new worlds for me... and I always will be fascinated by them...

Here is one which intrigued Ross at the time..."lethologica"... I had researched the word and here is what I told Ross... After the "racist" morning incident... 

Once I had accepted the peace offerings... I suggested that we might as well have a dip in the river Lethe... Ross looked at me with eyes wide open... I realized that I had to explain myself...

Like many other English scientific terms associated with the mind, lethologica is a modern word derived from classical Greek. The Greek words are  lethe - meaning  forgetfulness and logos - meaning word. 
In Greek mythology, Lethe was also one of the five rivers of the underworld (sort of a cross between purgatory and hell) where the souls of the dead drank to forget all earthly memories.

The river Lethe... from Greek mythology... Ross was intrigued by myths and loved to read fantasy novels... He insisted that we have to see The Hobbit and related movies together... I always attempted to avoid... I most of the time got bored with movies and slept in the theater... 

Another view of the mythological river... Lethe...

The River Lethe was the boundary between earth and the afterlife. The waters purged all memories except those of happier times. 

That is why I had suggested that we take a dip in the river... and erase the memories of the "racist" stupidity from that morning...

Lethe was also the name of the Greek spirit of forgetfulness and oblivion, with whom the river was often identified. In Classical Greek, the word lethe literally means "oblivion", "forgetfulness", or "concealment".


Indeed, I love the WORD... and with Ross I had the opportunity to dive in them... to play with them... and create new worlds with them...

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A friend sent an email... 

I am sure she loves the WORD too... and I hope she takes today's blog post as my (his)  "peace" offering on behalf of Ross...

Hello! First thing's first.   I believe that you talking about Ross is a great thing.  I'm sure you have more stories to tell about him than there are days in a year, maybe even ten years! Or more! I find that the best way to open a discussion is with a story.  It gives your blog a theme.  An analysis of life through the anecdotes of your adventures with him.  The stories you tell really lend themselves to what's going on in the world today and what is important to you and your feelings.   I personally did not get along with him when I was at school.  I was young and hard-headed and I can't remember the exact topic of discussion, but he said something that made me feel disrespected.  From then on, I didn't give him another chance.  I was still learning, I still am learning, about how to be an enlightened person who strives to be closer to God through truth and forgiveness.  Unfortunately, that was me being ignorant and proud.  As time passed, I do feel guilty about the way I felt and treated others around me back then.  By you telling stories about him, it helps people like me get to know him on a level that we would never have.