?

“From what I have read about marriage and adultery, I have discovered that although I think it’s a terrible thing, it could be justified.” ~ a student
? I ponder how large I could make the question mark indicating my astonishment and my confusion. What? What’s terrible? Marriage with adultery? Adultery? Marriage? Whichever we find most convenient or incomprehensible?
My writing students explain their ideas; I am left to ponder their meaning, how their meaning differs from mine, and another essential aspect of life: punctuation. As I argue to students when we are discussion punctuation: it’s important. Those little marks not only sort out our meaning, but convey our message. Punctuation allows us to know if the problem relates to the brother’s or brothers’ situation, among other choices.
I’ve written odes to semi colons, and have pondered the construction of a rubber stamp to explain the relationship of quote marks with closing punctuation. I have written illustrations on the chalkboard and their essays. Do they remember for next time? Not usually. Perhaps they believe punctuation is irrelevant (because they are busy text messaging?). Because “everyone talks now and nobody writes.” Because a starlet featured on the cover of the Sunday newspaper magazine brags how she dropped out of high school and has since won two awards (not for writing). Because punctuation too closely resembles the smudges left from papers residing too long in the bottom of a book bag?
Or maybe because life is more exciting when we can’t decipher whether it’s marriage or adultery or the combination that is terrible, and some of us just want to find out.