Teacher? I Never Dreamed I Could Rise

I've Been Writing In Notebooks For 40 Years Or So.

People Everywhere Brag And Whimper About The Woes Of Their Early Years, But Nothing Can Compare With The Irish Version: The Poverty; The Shiftless Loquacious Father; The Pious Defeated Mother Moaning By The Fire; Pompous Priests; Bullying School Masters; The English And The Terrible Things They Did To Us For Eight Hundred Long Years. Above All -- We Were Wet.

There Were Positive Things About The Church, That Is, In The European Cultural Sense, The Architecture, The Liturgy, The Music, The Art, Such As It Was, The Stations Of The Cross In The Church, The Tradition, And The Atmosphere Of Awe And Mystery In The Mass. The Atmosphere Of Miracle, One Of Mainly Mystery, That's What Fascinates Me.

I Told Her Tea Bags Were Just A Convenience For People With Busy Lives And She Said No One Is So Busy They Can't Take Time To Make A Decent Cup Of Tea And If You Are That Busy You Don't Deserve A Decent Cup Of Tea For What Is It All About Anyway? Are We Put Into This World To Be Busy Or To Chat Over A Nice Cup Of Tea?

The Main Thing I Am Interested In Is My Experience As A Teacher.