The thing I like to teach, if I can-because it’s kind of a superpower-is revision. It’s just like having your faith renewed every day. Every generation is full of talented young people who are newly discovering the power of the word and are fired up about what it can do in its traditional form. Maybe as you get older, you might tend to slip into that old guy mode-“Oh, the kids these days.” But being around our students, you see that that’s just false.
#I AM THE MASTER OF MY DOMAIN HOW TO#
How to Teach: Every year is a reminder that talent is always with us. No autopilot-we have to learn to continually live with uncertainty.
Writing is great training for life-this idea of being open to what actually is, instead of trying to force your version of events on to that reality. But not one that I’ve learned to stop making, at all.
So to the extent that we are rushing around trying to underscore that distinction and put distance between ourselves and others, and (once and for all!) “win” that game-that’s an error. Or to put it another way: the separation between ourselves and everything else that we all feel, deep in our gut-is incorrect. And I’d say that’s the central moral dilemma for men, women, children, old people-you name it. All of the nasty stuff in this life comes out of that misunderstanding. How do you correct the fundamental misperception that we are all born with, i.e.: I am permanent, I am enduring, I am central. How to Be Decent: The big kahuna of all moral questions, as far as I’m concerned, is ego. In the meantime, get your guidance straight from the source. It’s also central to his poignant commencement address at Syracuse University in May.
This theme runs throughout Tenth of December, the year’s standout collection of short stories. He’s not, as he puts it, into “pulling up my big manure truck of ideas and dumping it on poor, unsuspecting you.” What the celebrated writer does prescribe is the idea that we should approach every person and situation with unflinching kindness. Saunders is not interested in motivational mantras. We don’t mean one of those block-jawed, Tony Robbins-looking loudmouths.
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