Tank

"What did one goldfish say to the other goldfish?"
"Who's gonna drive this tank?"

It was break time in our Moral Theology class at UD (University of Dallas) and it is a long-standing tradition of Dr. Mark Lowery to share jokes. The cornier the better.

I had met him five years ago when my superiors asked me to start a master's program.
He was the current chair of the theology department, a man distinguished in his demeanor, and piercing in his replies.

He is still the chair of the department and it takes him five minutes to lower his body into a chair.
I was shocked when I saw his bent limbs.

His words still pierce, as he lectures from memories and turns arguments upside down.
More piercing is the light that radiates from his eyes.

It gleams when he is refuting a philosophical error.
It twinkles when he tells jokes.
It blazes when he spoofs of his physical limitations.

And it is a blaze of gentle self-deprecation.
I was going to learn more than moral theology this semester.
I was in the presence of heroism.

ps1. My guppies and goldfish has a new home, courtesy of my cousin. It was a surprise Labor Day gift.