Please Don't Hate Me: An Open Letter

Dear Wife-of-one-of-my-students,

I'd like to begin by saying that your husband is one of my best students and that I very much enjoy having him in my class on the Theological Tractate.

He comes to class on time, does his readings, participates in class, and is thoroughly engaged in the learning process. Further, his research papers are well-written and well-researched; I suspect that this is because he actually reads the secondary sources that I direct him to.

I wish to apologize, however, for the unintended consequences of my directing him to these secondary sources.

I did not realize that my praise of a six-volume dictionary would lead to his purchase of the entire set. I really thought that he would simply photocopy the pages that he needed, since the dictionary is available for use in the reference section of the library. After all, that's what I do.

I also did not realize that my recommendation of a particular series of line-by-line discussions of the Good Book would result in his purchase of all fifty-eight volumes of that series.

I strongly suspect that you are already growing weary of his quickly-expanding library and I can only imagine how irritated you must be at the amount of space that his new books consume.

I would not blame you at all for being upset with me and I hope that you will believe me when I say that I will refrain from recommending any more books to your husband.

Yours truly, ScholarWannabe