conjugating verbs...

" A certain grammarian embarked on a boat. That self conceited scholar turned to the boatman and said, " Have you ever studied grammar?"
" No," said the boatman.
"Then your life is meaningless and worth nothing." replied the academician.
The boatman became heartbroken with grief, but at the time he refrained from answering.
Suddenly a great wind cast the boat into a whirlpool; the boatman shouted loudly to the grammarian, "Tell me, do you know how to swim?"
"No," said the scholar.
"O fair-spoken, good looking  grammarian,  Your whole life has come to naught, because our boat is sinking in this whirlpool."...
Know that here, humility is needed, not grammar: if you are dead to the self, you may plunge into the sea without peril. 
You, who has called other people asses, at this time you are left floundering like an ass upon this ice.
If in this world you are the most learned scholar of this time, we have stitched in and inserted the story of the grammarian that we might teach you the lesson of self-effacement. In self loss, in becoming less, O venerated  friend, you will find the grammar of grammar..
If we do not know ourselves to be asses, asses we are." 

Rumi (Vol 1: 2835-2849)

Commentary: It is time to learn to swim.