The teacher had gone on to say that she was glad to see me doing well, and that friendship was a great support, not only at school but in life in general. Of course, she didn’t know how close she was to hitting the nail on the head.
“You’re right,” I told her. “I’m really lucky to have a friend like Marie. Although it’s also annoying, her being so good at everything, because of the humidity.”
“The humidity?”
“Yes, you know, when you feel really small next to someone who’s head and shoulders above you…”
“You mean humility.”
Humility the quality or state of being humble; having a low opinion of one’s own importance; meekness and lack of vanity.
“Yes, that’s it. Because you know, it isn’t only music she’s interested in. When she has time, she reads philosophy. Before I became friends with her, I wasn’t even aware such a thing existed. Did you know that the word philosophy means ‘love of wisdom’?”
“No, I didn’t know. You see, now you’ve taught me something.”
Ever since Marie could no longer read, once we’d finished our homework and planned for any hazards that might crop up the next day, she would ask me to get a philosophy book from her bookcase. Mostly they had completely baffling titles. She explained that I’d need to know about philosophy later on, and that she probably would have decided to specialize in it herself if she hadn’t chosen music instead. But anyway there wasn’t any choice in the matter now.
One day, wanting to impress her, I looked up some facts about the greatest philosophers. I made some notes about Plato and Aristotle and the allegory of the cave, which is a story about prisoners tied to the wall of a cave all their lives. They can only see the shadows of things moving outside and they think they’re real. It’s meant to tell you that knowledge isn’t only about what you can see. The next day, I brought the conversation round to the subject. I wanted to trot out what I’d learnt to show her that I wasn’t a buffoon, or at least not only a buffoon. But when I opened my mouth I said that in my opinion the two greatest philosophers were Arilato and Pistotle … so then I gave up on the idea. Marie burst out laughing and said I was a genius, a real genius. I didn’t know whether to be flattered or put out.