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Feb. 8, 2008 I’ve always been a sucker for words. Every time I hear a word that sounds like another, I often wonder if they’re connected! Sometimes I end up researching the words, and sometimes the words research me. If you’ve ever read or purchased a book called “10,000 Baby Names”, or any equivalent or version of it, you’ll realize you’ve just been ripped off! It’s really more like “1000 Baby Names”. Why? Because of Latin. The majority of names in these books are just a variation of the root name; like Michael in English, Miguel in Spanish, and Michel in French, etc. A name like Christine or John, forget about it. These days, the variations are endless. Ever since I learned how to read, I’ve always thought about being a linguist. I’ve never seriously pursued it, but in truth, I always have been. I’ve been fortunate enough to speak more than one language. I still speak fluent Tagalog from the Philippines, English of course, I know some basic French, (thanks to a quarter of French in college and nine days in France!), and I’m very fair in Spanish, since Tagalog is half Spanish anyway. The two years of Spanish in high school didn’t hurt, either! In other words, when it comes to languages, I’m definitely a Curious George! Between 2001 and 2005, I got very involved in my local church. I took a class about the Christian Faith, and was asked to teach Confirmation to a group of teenagers about eight months out of a year. In my first few classes, I found it hard to keep the kids’ attention. This was my first year. I found the curriculum very educational, but it was corny and silly at times. Most lessons were just a little too “churchy”. I needed to put some flair into the lessons and apply them to the kids’ everyday lives. So I put the focus on the kids. Almost everything we did involved “class participation”. One of my favorite activities was the “get to know each other” part in every beginning of a class. I would get the students to tell the class “who named them, where their names came from, and if they knew what it meant”. This was always a big hit. Once the teenagers warmed up to these types of activities, they were more interested in the rest of the religious lessons. I also found that most teenagers became more interested when we discussed “definitions” in class. So I would introduce and discuss definitions of big religious words, like faith, religion, revelation, apocalypse, grace, etc. I would look up the root and origin of a word and somehow incorporate them into the lessons. Sometimes the kids would ask for a discussion on a word, and I would do the research right in front of them. I was equipped with a dictionary that included the origin of most words. One very fateful morning, one of the students wanted to look up the word “testament”. We had discussed the differences between the Old and the New Testaments from a previous class. So when we looked up the word, a Pandora’s box was opened. As it turned out, the definition of the word testament is derived from “testes”, which has to do with circumcision. The word testament means “an agreement, a law, a covenant”. If you know your Old Testament, God’s first test with Abraham had to do with circumcision. It was a test of their agreement. You can look up the details in the Bible yourself, but in simple terms, an agreement, or relationship, doesn’t really exist without some sort of test. Evidently, as we were discussing the origin of the word testament, there was a loud “buzz” in the classroom. Everyone, especially the boys, were looking at each other with a smile. It was like a light bulb had just turned on in their heads. An “aha” moment! It’s interesting to note that most of these kids had gone through Catechism all their young lives, and some of them even go to Catholic Schools, and have had very similar lessons. But as we looked up the word “testament” and found its origin together, it was definitely an interesting revelation! So lo and behold, within the next few minutes, who should walk in to the classroom? Father Ben, the priest who taught me and helped me qualify to teach this class! I immediately asked him, jokingly, what he’s doing there, and that he should leave immediately. He said to pretend that he wasn’t there and just continue to teach. He then turned to the class, with a big smile on his face, and asked: “So what have you learned from Mr. Robert Calixto?” I could see that the kids were chomping at the bit. I couldn’t help smiling this whole time, not knowing how he would respond. But part of me thought that if anyone would appreciate this moment, it would be Father Ben. He has a great sense of humor, and loves teaching out of the box. So then one of the kids, Élan, raises his hand, proceeds to explain to Father Ben, very proudly I might add, that we had been discussing the meaning of the word “testament”, and that, in his own words, “it had to do with the testicles of Abraham”! The second he said this; you can hear a gasp in the room! Father Ben’s response was even more astounding. He said that he never saw the connection, and that it was something that was so obvious, that he should have put these connections together himself! He also said that he was surprised at how the kids were so involved in the class, and congratulated me for doing a good job. Then he said, “I’ve heard all I needed to hear”, and left. As soon as he left, I was able to breathe again! This was a day I’ll never forget. I taught Confirmation for another four years and loved every minute of it. I learned as much as the students, and found the whole experience immensely rewarding. Isn’t so true? In every agreement, in every relationship, there is always a test. ------------ About the author: Robert Calixto read a simple quote, and suddenly his creative floodgates opened! One of those self-defining, quotable quotes you read on Reader’s Digest. He is patiently working on a scifi/political thriller, a self-help/sales manual, and a biography. Writing columns help him focus on his newfound challenge, writing! The quote? ”You don’t find yourself, you make yourself.” Email Robert Calixto: calixtorobert@yahoo.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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