Delight Springs

Monday, October 17, 2022

Pay it forward

The Lachs conference/celebration was, to borrow one of his own favorite characterizations, lovely.

Friday's talks and testimonials from former students and colleagues spanning generations were appropriate, occasionally moving, and not (at the honoree's request) too "sappy"... and that was a nice little story from Herman, explaining how John's co-founded American Philosophy Society became S.A.A.P. in spite of its acronymic unfortunateness. 

The food (salmon, ratatouille, several kinds of dessert) was, to borrow another distinctively Lachsian descriptor, delightful.

The Saturday morning talks were great.

And what fun, laying eyes again on so many old friends so long (too long) parted.

No single event could justly reflect and reward the lifetime achievement of such a wise, fecund, and impactful mentor, but this one sounded all the right notes and spotlighted what I think is John's greatest quality as a teacher and a human being: the eagerness to accept, appreciate, and applaud individuals for themselves and in their uniqueness. A "community of individuals" is no abstraction for him. Like William James, John revels in the teeming varieties of experience and has no use for meddlers, authoritarians, and spirit-killers. 

We who've benefitted from the gift of John's instruction owe it to him to keep the flame of that sort of humane education alive. We owe it to him to pay it forward.




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