Virtual

I am a
College
Student at
UT entering
A classroom
To hear a lecture
By Elspeth Rostow
And an introduction
By her husband Walt
Rostow both PhDs and
Prestigious faculty but all
I see are two small tape
Recorders on the table
As an obsequious but
Embarrassed grad
Student explains
One recording
Is Walt the
Second
Elspeth as
Neither has time
To be there in person
So I leave as I am not in
This class but it strikes me
As disrespectful of students
To have two dozen of them
Gathered for a class to
Listen to two tape
Recorders but
Rank hath
Its
Privileges
And such displays
Of arrogance are not
Uncommon in powerful
Faculty or in life so my
Lesson learned was
Beware of power
Which corrupts
Even the most
Rational mind
And blinds us
To how we
Appear to
Others
Since virtual
Lectures lack the
Virtue of the spoken
Word over the recorded.
I never forget this
Lesson in bad
Manners and
Years later
At a small
Dinner
Party on
Campus I get
To tell Elspeth that
War is not mathematical
Formulas but an art
Rather than a
Science as
Her frown
Amuses
Walt.