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A
summary of, followed by a response to, Cliff Schneider’s essay “I’m Still
Learning from My Mother.”
In the Newsweek essay “Still Learning from My Mother,” Cliff Schneider
talks about life lessons he still learns from his 79 year old mother.
Schneider vividly describes his mother in her youth as being very gracious
but also very competitive and great at sports. As the years go by his
mom grows old and slowly realizes that she is not as physically young as
she once was. Still determined to be at the top of her game, his
mother aims for a seemingly unfeasible goal: to score 200 points in a game
of bowling. Schneider never thought his mom’s goal would be
accomplished, yet one night he received a call from his excited mother who
exclaimed that she had exceeded her goal. Schneider, a retired
freshwater biologist, learned a couple of important lessons--that you
can never be too old to set goals for yourself, and that you should be open
to everyone because you never know what someone might teach you.
Schneider’s essay was very descriptive and tells his story with the
underlying moral lesson at the end. Like Schneider, I am surprised
sometimes at the lessons I learn from unexpected people. I have
encountered several unexpected people in my job as a restaurant
server. These people have taught me that it is important to dream big
and accomplish the goals you set for yourself and share your accomplishments
with someone you love.
The other day at work, I served this elderly couple who was celebrating an
accomplishment. The wife had recently graduated with a Doctorate in
Sociology. She had been a junior high teacher for many years, and she
spoke of her early ambitions of getting her Doctorate, a goal she had set
for herself back when she first started teaching. Listening to all
the bumps she encountered on her way to a Doctorate, I was surprised at her
ambitious journey to her Doctorate, thinking to myself that she is too old
to be able to do anything with it. But then I recalled Schneider
writing that, to encourage his mother’s determination
to bowl a 200-game, he just “smiled and nodded in
agreement,” the many times his mother mentioned this goal (6). So I smiled,
too, particularly when I glanced at the woman’s husband who sat there looking at his wife
lovingly, with a warm smile on his face, proud as can be. After they
had left, I was happy for her but didn’t really think much more about
it.
Later that night, after going home from work, I began to seriously think
about this lady’s impressive accomplishment. She had set a goal for
herself and was able to carry out her dream because of her determination.
Her age had nothing to do with her goal, and I suddenly felt bad for
thinking that because she was older there was no point in getting a
Doctorate. This lady was beaming and much like Schneider‘s mother
because her “. . . achievement [had] lifted
her spirits and made her feel young again” (6). She had a dream and
she wasn’t too old to achieve it. Her age was not the issue; here it
was a matter of completing the goal she had set for herself. Her
story was inspiring and when I got home from my job, I was overwhelmed with
the lessons I could take from this simple encounter.
As Schneider said about his mother, “Vince Lombardi would be proud”(4), as so obviously was my customer’s husband.
As he sat next to her in the booth, it was obvious that he loved her and
supported her through her journey. He didn’t need to say a word for
someone to see how proud he was. In life, it is important to surround
yourself with people that love and encourage you to go after the things you
want for yourself. To share an accomplishment with someone you love,
who has been there for you, is better than to do it alone. This
couple set forth a perfect example of a loving and supportive relationship.
It is so
important to dream big and set goals for yourself. Through
determination anything is possible and you can accomplish your goals.
Having the support and encouragement of someone you love is also
important. As Schneider says so eloquently “…you are never too old to
dream and never too old to realize those dreams”(6).
Works Cited
(MLA format)
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