I've been reading a novel, Doctor Glas, written by Hjalmar Söderberg in 1905. So far it has been enjoyable in a depressing sort of way, but not nearly as provocative as the book jacket blurb claims. One paragraph, though, especially captured my attention:
We want to be loved; failing that, admired; failing that, feared; failing that, hated and despised. At all costs we want to stir up some sort of feeling in others. Our soul abhors a vacuum. At all costs it longs for contact.
Nowhere did I see this cascade of desires acted out more passionately, more brutally, than in the classroom during my years of teaching.
I love this quote. I mean i don't love it, because i didn't write it. but i admire it. but i'm a bit intimidated by it, so i sort of am afraid of it. i changed my mind. i hate it.
no, really, i like it. at my school the principal absolutely is like this. a little boy in a man's body, who wants to be loved but settled in on being feared, and often despised. and in my worst parenting moments i believe i scroll right through this list at a rapid pace. you?