An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit by Daniel Quin
In the book Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit, Daniel Quin explores the concept of ‘Leavers’ and ‘Takers’. The leavers are the people who believe that gods are in charge of the world and that whenever they are in need, the gods will always provide for them. They live for today and resign their fate to superior powers. The takers, on the other hand, believe they have the power to determine their lives, and that they were created to take charge of the world. A good example of leavers is ancient groups of people who lived or who are still living in selected parts of the world where technology has not disrupted their way of life. Takers on the other do not put their fate on the gods, but rather work hard to determine their present and future lives. Unlike the leavers who would rather wait for food from the Gods, the takers would rather plant their food and determine what kind of food they would eat.
Considering this concept, there are ways in which my day to day living conforms to both the leavers and takers point of view. First of all, when it comes to living like a taker, I find myself thinking about the future and putting in an effort to ensure that I work hard in order to secure a good future. It is for this reason that I have taken up education, work hard in school and career in the future, in order to ensure that I better my life. Rather than just sit and wait for things to fall in place, I go out of my way to do what is expected by my superiors to do in order to fit into a hard working society. There is more to life than just waking up and doing things that are considered normal just like “there is more beyond the making of a jellyfish” (Quinn 56). As a leaver I have always let religious beliefs set by society dominate and dictate how I live my life. I do not question matters concerning religion, and I leave that to God and society determine what is acceptable. It is for this reason that I pray to God every day and present myself to him day and night.
Many are the times when I let mother culture take charge of my life. I at times feel like it is important to let nature take its course and only do what is needed as “it is the peace- keeping law” (Quinn 129). When it comes to what is morally acceptable in society, I do and act as everyone else is expected to behave. I was born in a Muslim family, and everyone has expected me to live and behave like a religious person. But at times am forced to question what mother culture stipulates. I know for a fact that one should respect their superiors because this is what is expected of us by God and society. There are times when I get the urge to just ignore what my superiors say because it does not conform to my feelings and what I want. There are times when am asked to do something but choose to ignore or do the opposite. I remain captive though, because my conscious keeps reminding me that it is a wrong thing to do, but I end up doing it.
If I was to live a leaver’s life in the next ten years, then there is so much I would do about my career and lifestyle. I would like to be a teacher. On a good day, I would wake up and meditate, say a prayer and have breakfast before leaving the house. I will not care to carry necessary teaching resources for the day and yet I will go to my classes to teach. On my way there, I will pass by a friend’s convenient store to say hello and spend an hour there and never mind that I will be late for class, because even if I was, I will assume my students will do something constructive as pertains the day’s lesson. On reaching school, I will go to class and give learners a new topic or concept and let them study in groups and be in charge of the lesson after which I will give them a test regarding the day’s lesson. In fact, the lesson will be based on a topic belonging to a senior grade than theirs, and I will expect them to do it perfectly well as expected of learners of the senior grade. I will then end my lesson, go to the office and assume the teaching and learning objectives have been met because the learners were in control of the lesson and that they are responsible for the outcome of the lesson. Every class I go to in the cause of the day I will repeat the same thing and assume the learners are in charge of the lesson. I will go back home a satisfied teacher because I went to class as it is expected of me.
Under any normal circumstances, the teacher is expected to guide learners in the teaching and learning process. Secondly, I teacher cannot go to class without the teaching resources and cannot administer a task that does not belong to the curriculum of the level or grade in question. Teachers are always trained on how to be the number one resource that a learner can use. Secondly, no teacher is allowed to teach things that are outside of the curriculum. Another thing is that such tests administered in these classes are unacceptable. But in all these unacceptable activities, I believe there will come a time in life when curriculum may not as important especially when it comes to teaching and training learners on vocational studies that do not require set regulations and studies, but rather, all that a learner needs to know with regard to their intended future careers.
Work Cited
Quinn, Daniel. Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit. New York: Random House Publishing Group. 2009
