Wisely Said

So I was talking to O at work today—he works the req desk downstairs. He asked me a few weeks (maybe a month?) ago if I could provide him with materials about how I use Math on the job. He was saying it's tough to be relevant with his kids (not that I know much about relevance), and he thought some real-world experience might be useful.

I haven't produced any material for him, because I don't really have any, except what's in my head. But I went down there to talk to him anyway, just to let him know I hadn't forgotten. And we chatted for a few minutes about a lot of things, most of which are his business (not yours).

But he said something pretty quotable:

If we don't beat our kids at home, the police'll do it in the street.

I don't think he really meant "beat" in the sense that most of us think of abusing children. O grew up, by his own admission, in the ghetto, and he took some pretty good lessons from it. (It's interesting that he has this perspective when Master C has exactly the opposite—he doesn't believe in corporal punishment at all. I imagine a lot of their experiences were similar.)

It's a succinct expression, and wisely put. He doesn't look old (but then again, African-Americans tend to age better than us whities), but he's seen a lot, and it was a very cool conversation.