Read it Backwards!: The Weekly Mentor

 

By Oliver DeMille

"Oh, no!" Emma said. "Another long quote from Lao Tzu. It's so hard to understand. Are you sure you want to include this in your book?"

We were editing a manuscript for a book I am working on, and I often ask my daughter Emma to read aloud with me because she is extremely good at getting all the grammar and punctuation correct.

I wish I'd had the benefit of her talents when I started writing years ago--but of course she was very young at that point.

Anyway, I was surprised to hear her concern with Lao Tzu.

"Wait," I responded. "I know you read the Bible, Shakespeare, Jane Austen and other older-language books, and you understand them without a hitch, so why is Lao Tzu hard for you?"

"I'm not sure. It just doesn't make much sense. I find it tedious."

I'd seen this before, but I was surprised to find that Emma had the same concern.

"Do you feel the same way about the writings of Dante?" I asked.

"Yes! Absolutley."

"What about Milton?"

"Yes!"

"Sun Tzu?"

"Yes."

Now I knew what the problem was. Like I said, I've seen this before, but I thought I had taught Emma how to get around this....