THE CLASS PICTURE

knowledge is then perhaps we may conclude innocence ... perhaps ... because it may just produce innocence as a byproduct ... an epiphenomenon the philosophers say ... I'm a philosopher just not yet a good one ... too vague too imprecise I'm sure ... all too eager to float an attractive idea while not conscious of the ground beneath it ... inconsistent contradictory absurd ... nonetheless I trust something in the air here ... something sound imperturbable eternal in the connection here ... between the knower and the known ... the question and the answer ... but it's nothing that the picture shows ... none of the objects in the room give it away ... not the wood desks the finger of the student in the corner plucking his nose the second hand on the clock frozen in its place ... not even the teacher's expectant smile although that's close ... everything else is posing ... pretending to be the common ground ... the middle term working as it should to make the argument valid ... there is a midddle term between the question and the answer ... one that doesn't pretend to be ... about whom there is no subterfuge cleverness or deceit ... it's you ... you're the middle term