António Lopes

 

 

 

A few words about my person 

(If this bears any resemblance with Crusoe’s opening lines, it may be regarded as sheer pastiche)                                                                                                                       

 

I was born in the Year 1967, in the City of Faro, in the Kingdom of Al-Gharb (a.k.a. Algarve), Portugal, of a good Family, of that very Country, my Father being a Teacher of English and German, who settled first in Faro: He got a good Estate by Teaching, and without leaving off his Trade, he married my Mother, Relations were named Bernardo, a very good Family at Country, and from whom I was called Antonio Manuel Bernardo Lopes; but by the usual Corruption of Words in England, we are now called, nay we call our Selves, and writer Name Tó, and so my Companions always call'd me.

I have two younger Brothers, one of which never became Lieutenant Collonel to an English Regiment of Foot in Flanders, and is therefore always at ease with the Spaniards and other foreigners arriving at the airport of this very same town: What will become of my second Brother I am still at odds.

Being the first Son of the Family, and bred to the Trade of Teaching, my Head began to be fill'd very early with rambling Thoughts: My Father, who wasn’t that very ancient, had given me competent Share of Learning, as far as House-Education, and a Country Free-School generally goes, and design'd for the TOESL; but I would be satisfied with nothing but go to the Sea of Research, and my inclination met the Will, nay the Commands of my Father. However, it ran against all the Entreaties and Perswasions of my Mother, who wanted me to become a physician. Fortunately, the Life of Misery experienced by many who decide to follow such ill-paid Trade never was to befall me.

Soon I was to get my Degree in Modern Languages and Literatures (English and German―a potent mixture, mind you) at the Faculty of Arts in the old town of Lisbon, which caused great Anxiety amongst some of my Fellow‑Colleagues, for they lamented that being deprived of such wise and good-humoured Company as my Self was a Destiny worse than completing the Course, a thing they abhorred with all the Might of their Will (I later realized that this species of Homo Sapiens is growing fast in Numbers in the strange and wondrous World of the Academy).

Unsatiated (or rather, unsatisfied) with the Licentiate’s Degree, I proceeded, without Delay, to the Master’s, which was to astonish my humble and quite unprepared Person, for the intricate and awesome Complexities and Tasks I was to face resembled Crusoe’s first Adventure at Sea, full of Perils and Risks unseen. I came out of it alive, thanks to the Intervention of Providence most benign.

In the meantime, lur’d by the Promise of a Life of  Dedication to the Cause of Teaching in that Level of Education known as Higher, I embraced the academic Career, convinc’d of being well‑equipped, spiritually and physically, to challenge the Furies and Spirits most fearsome amongst the Routs of Learners sitting before me in that first Year of Teaching (A.D. 1992). Back then, I kept telling myself, but unable to derive any solace from it, that Temperance, Moderation, Quietness, Health, Society, all agreeable Diversions, and all desirable Pleasures, were the Blessings attending the Enterprize of Teaching; that this Way Women and Men went silently and smoothly thro' the World, and comfortably out of it, not embarass'd with the Labours of the Hands, but of the Head, not sold to the Life of Slavery for daily Bread, or harrast with perplex'd Circumstances, which rob the Soul of Peace, and the Body of Rest; tho’ sometimes enrag'd with the Passion of Envy, and secret burning Lust of Ambition for great Things and high Positions; but in easy Circumstances sliding gently thro' the World, and sensibly tasting the Sweets of living, without the bitter, feeling that they are happy, and learning by every Day's Experience to know it more sensibly.

But I was wrong, for Life keeps playing Tricks unheard of, and I was to learn, in the due Course of Experience, that the highest Expectations, even when duly tempered with the Wisdom of Common Sense and Purposefulness, are bound to fail; and that, cautious or not, one is always to see eye to eye with Adversity, that Foe of all human Endeavour; and thus did I find my Self, a law‑abiding Serf of Circumstances, educational and political, subjecting my poor Soul to great Efforts, trying in vain to prove my Valour as a Knight of academic Virtue and of poetic Justice in the Seat of Vice‑Chairman of the Executive Board.

Sometimes, haunted by terrific Dreams, afloat the Whimsicalities of my fertile Imagination, I picture my Self stranded on a God-forsaken desert Island, walking barefoot in search of Means of Sustenance, far from all the Pressures of modern Life (mobile Phones included), worshipping Gods and Goddesses, shouting at far-off clippers and  lighting Bonfires to ward off evil Spirits and to call for divine Protection.