A SERIES OF DIALECTICS BETWEEN TWO SISTERS
The Backpack Dialectic
Philosophical Dialogues
“That’s a great choice!” Athena reacted with an overly lavish encomium.
“But I think I’d rather get the other one. It’s pink. I want my favorite color!” her little face scrunched up.
She smiled as she walked over to Tala, thinking of how a new backpack can be such a big deal in a child’s life. In the back of her mind, she admired her niece’s ability to decide for herself, despite her contradictory yeses to every object she was shown.
Tala: I have to stop putting it off. I must think about her future. Perhaps one day she’ll make it to Oxford.
Athena: She’s 10, dear.
Tala: One can dream, yes?
Athena: Ah schools… Where we send the youth to be well-groomed, to be too set in their ways by the time they get out.
Tala: Ha, referring to yourself? Afraid she’ll take a leaf out of her aunt’s book?
Athena: You know very well what I’m speaking of.
Tala: I do, I do. The university is not a place to learn how to think, but rather a place to learn how to think like “them”.
