First published through my Water’s Edge Press newsletter
When I first read Tolstoy’s great fable, The Emperor’s Three Questions, I knew I would use it as the first work we read in AP English Literature and Composition each year. My premise was that AP English was hard work, so our time, our fifty minutes each day, needed to be free of outside noise and distraction. I used the tale as a reminder that when that bell rang, it was time to focus on the present time only. And this was before every student had a cell phone “glued” to them. Before the incessant noise of social media. Before all the mesmerizing delusions of AI.
I’m not sure how, but I persuaded my students to adopt the hermit’s wisdom as our mantra: “Remember that there is only one important time and that is now. The present moment is the only time over which we have dominion.” When time got away from us, all it would take to refocus was me reminding my students about what the hermit said.
Tolstoy’s tale is instructive for other reasons. I hope you will read it if you haven’t or haven’t in a long while. Besides the reminder that we can only manage one thing at a time, the fable reminds us that we are all connected. What we do impacts others. Our words and actions have consequences. In a world increasingly filled with strife, we can only control our own words and deeds. Let’s make them kind.
While Tolstoy’s emperor was a powerful man, he was not too proud to take the spade from a tired old man so he could rest. And it made all the difference.