Here is an email I received this morning from one of my students of this past semester. About the only thing I agree with him about is his conclusion in the second sentence of the first paragraph....but I do appreciate the thoughts. This is one of the nicest letters I've ever received. It's not every day I get called insane (I'm not being facetious about the "one of the nicest letters I've ever received." I appreciated this very much.)
"Professor Lewis,
I gotta be honest with you. When I first heard you lecture on the first class I thought you were a raving psycho. But on the second day you proved me wrong. The more I listened to you the more I found that we have a lot in common, especially the fire and the passion for history. I have never seen a teacher that teaches with so much fire in my life. ON the contrary I do believe that you can predict the future using historical knowledge. The more I went to class the more I was influenced. I was going to to pick you for all of my history class. (even considered teaching, although I have not the tolerance) Hell! I was even considering taking a bible class if you taught it and I'm not even a religious man. But I guess your calling is in the orient in Singapore. I am a musician, amateur screenwriter, and a history aficionado and you have brought great influence in all of those.
Also, there may of been a class where you called yourself crazy, some of the people in the class might agree. But I partially disagree. I believe that you have that spark of insanity that fuels the genius mind. Every genius of his/her calling has that spark of genius that fuels his/her passion. Passion is a fire that keeps us on our toes and keeps us wanting more, craving more, and also keeps us alive. Like above it fuels the genius. Geniuses thru the cords of history has had their run ins with their spark. Da Vinci had a spark, Van Gogh had the spark, Edgar Allen Poe had the spark, S. Hawkings has the spark, Einstein had the spark, Beethoven had the Spark, Jimi Hendrix had the spark, and finally Mark Lewis has the spark. Do not let the spark of insanity consume you; take control of it and use it to kindle your fire.
P.S. ...I hope you had a Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!!!!!
LONG LIVE THE GREAT KING MARK LEWIS I"
(Name withheld in case some other student reads this and wants to kill the guy.)