It’s Become A Real Odyssey

A friend of my girlfriend was graduating and I came along. The weather was pretty hot, especially for that time of year, and the ceremony was held in an auditorium that could barely hold all the people who were attending.

The students would come on stage in groups of three to five and a teacher would give a little highlight like, “These students won the math championship,” or, “These students came together and convinced the cafeteria to serve more healthy food,” etc.

The teacher for ancient Greek, though, would instead read for Every Individual Student several pages from the Iliad or some other classical work. While some of his students understood why he picked those passages, with a few even giving a knowing a smile, others just sat there pondering how it related to them. But for at least 99% of the audience, he might have as well droned random words, and sitting in the stifling heat with oxygen levels dropping, people were getting annoyed.

After several rounds of this, before the next batch of students came forward, another teacher grabbed the mic and said, “I’ll keep it brief…” There was immediate thunderous applause from the audience!

After a little break to catch fresh air — that was the announcement — the teacher got the hint and while his congratulations were still longer than most other teachers they were reduced to a reasonable duration.