marrakech - The Monday Morning Memo

“Marrakech,” a 1924 photograph by Marcelin Flandrin.
Graham Nash took “the train from Casablanca going South”
in 1966 and wrote a song about it. This is that song:

Looking at the world through the sunset in your eyes
Traveling the train through clear Moroccan skies
Ducks and pigs and chickens call, animal carpet wall to wall
American ladies five-foot tall in blue.

Sweeping cobwebs from the edges of my mind
Had to get away to see what we could find
Hope the days that lie ahead bring us back to where they’ve led
Listen not to what’s been said to you.

Would you know we’re riding on the Marrakesh Express?
Would you know we’re riding on the Marrakesh Express?
They’re taking me to Marrakesh.
All aboard the train, all aboard the train

I’ve been saving all my money just to take you there.
I smell the garden in your hair.
Take the train from Casablanca going South
Blowing smoke rings from the corners of my mouth

Colored cottons hang in the air
Charming cobras in the square
Striped djellabas we can wear at home

Would you know we’re riding on the Marrakesh Express?
Would you know we’re riding on the Marrakesh Express?
They’re taking me to Marrakesh.

“Seek the teacher who is a mentor to apprentices. She will give you expert advice and examples, then evaluate your ability to do as she has taught. Her name is Wisdom and you should always listen to her voice.

But Wisdom’s teacher allowed young Wisdom to follow any path she chose! Wisdom learned her lessons from Consequences, the greatest teacher of all.

Wisdom can give you interesting examples because of all the fascinating things she learned from Consequences. You will know you are in the presence of Wisdom when you see her scars.

Wisdom and Consequences are happy teachers who guide students through the adventures of life.

A sad teacher repeats what she’s been told, then grades you on how well you can repeat it back to her. She is a parrot, and she teaches other parrots.

A smart person makes a mistake, learns from it, and never makes that mistake again.
A wise person listens to a smart person, and learns how to avoid that mistake altogether.
A fool listens to a parrot, and believes what he is told.

“But wait a minute, didn’t you say a wise person listens to a smart person so they can learn how to avoid the mistake altogether?”

“Yes, but the parrot is not a smart person. She never made the mistake and learned from it. She is simply repeating what she’s been told.”

“And why is that dangerous?”

“When the experience of Consequences has been removed from the classroom, the majestic principles of Wisdom quickly degrade into small and silly rules.”

The great fire-breathing dragon becomes a tiny lizard that lives in a little rulebook.

Every bureaucrat was once a young parrot taught by a sad teacher.

But was there ever a child who, late at night, lay under the covers and dreamed of someday becoming the enforcer of small and petty policies?

No. But there are children who were unlucky enough to be protected from Consequences by a misguided someone who did not understand the value of scars.”

- Roy H. Williams, Sept 30, 2018