Our Moment In History by Meinir Davies

Yet again, I have an occasion to quote these words by Emma Lazarus… a section of which, as you know, is written on America’s very own Statue of Liberty:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

‘Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!’ cries she
With silent lips. ‘Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!’

…and from the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.

…of course this is only a part of it…and one could argue that it is a piece chosen to illustrate a certain theme only and thus an unfair choice of text.

The “enemy” then was the British Monarchy…and “men” meant everyone we hope.

The institution at which we, teachers, work is a school. One could argue that it is a school’s task to teach reading, writing and all the other important subjects and not to have a perspective on the historical context in which the teaching of all these subjects is taking place.

However, if I were to choose to ignore the historical context and choose to continue as if there were no huge questions to be examined by us, the adults, and the older students of our community, I — (and I deliberately say “I” because I don’t want to be seen as speaking on behalf of anyone else — I know they will do that themselves), would not be able to stand in front of the children tomorrow as the participant in everything that is taking place but would have to pretend not to know or not to notice what is taking place. That I cannot do.

When I say, “ Older children”, I mean our 8th grade and high school students…to a degree 7th Grade…and of course, in the every day lives of all the other children, making generosity of spirit, seeing the world from a Chinese, Arabic, Spanish, musical, artistic, mathematical, etc., perspective a matter of course.

8th Grade is the time when we learn about Modern History including The Third Reich and not to help a high school student have the deepest understanding possible at that age of what has led us to recurring themes of hatred, violence, rejection and ostracization would not only be irresponsible but reprehensible.

When the Declaration of Independence was written, women…oh…I was going to say…“women were not seen as equally valuable or capable as men as they are now”…but quickly noticed that that of course is not quite accurate.

Let me start that again:

Despite the fact that many years have passed since the Declaration of Independence, it is still the case that in many places, those of us who are not men of certain European descent, are not measured with the same yardstick…and perhaps it is time to just add a few words to this declaration to help those who presume that the words “ all men are created equal” actually mean only males of certain European descent and not all human beings!

And the words “They are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights” means:

“Whomever they believe their Creator to be, or, whether they believe that what created them was the energies of the universe, or that nothing created them or whatever version of that makes sense to them.”

Have we spoken about this in class? Yes we have. Of course we have. We now see that many people really took that word “ man” very literally and the word “Creator” to mean the Creator that a certain religious doctrine describes and only that one!

And…at school…we extend the idea that all are created equal, to animals and plants too…we study Plant Intelligence and the Senses in plants…we discuss how animals communicate and feel and love and protect…and feed their young…and how plants communicate and have a very specific plant intelligence that we are only now beginning to understand more fully.

…and the wonderful thing about that is that you discover with time that it actually SERVES us to be generous, open and vulnerable and to ensure that every living being has as near to enough as possible of what it/she/he needs…because the very fact that everyone has a chance to be at ease in their physicalities, feeling realms and unconscious because they are not tense, worried, scared, frightened or anxious means that they affect everyone else positively…

It SERVES us to be altruistic rather than selfish and greedy…there is nothing self-sacrificing about being altruistic or generous…it is the more sensible way to be and it ends up making the one being altruistic better off!

Look at what the opposite of that is doing to people globally this very minute?

…and the great mystery is: why do we choose to forget that…why do we choose fear, anxiety, violence, fear of not having enough and therefore are greedy, over the other?

Is there something voyeuristically exciting about the drama of conflict?

Are we perhaps afraid of living peacefully? Could it be too boring?

If we again look at the entertainment industry and it is a really good barometer — the amount of violence and conflict and drama and tension and so on is huge.

Whether it was the Colosseum in Rome, public executions, bear baiting, dog fights, lining up on the battlefield to fight for glory, football games ( sorry Super Bowl lovers)…we have a fascination for battles, for the terrible, for the “winner”…

This then is not a new phenomenon…

What is new about it is that we can all watch it from the comfort of our own sofas.

So here we are…in 2017….

We have not only been fascinated by the terrible…we have been fascinated by peace too…and many societies have found ways to live peacefully together with each other, with animals, with plants, with rocks, with rivers…so we know it IS possible!

If you read the sonnet written by Emma Lazarus, who was Jewish and knew what she was talking about when writing that text…if you read Dr. Martin Luther King’s speeches…if you read Nelson Mandela’s speeches…if you listen to Malala Yousafsei and many many many more who did not become famous or well-known…peace fascinates us too!

We stand facing an enormously important moment in history:

Are we going to choose what is sensible, that shows common sense and what would serve us most, or are we going to let the fascination with the terrible prevail?

This has nothing to do with politics, economics and certainly nothing to do with party politics…another dying dinosaur of our political world stages…

This has to do with you, with the children, with the teachers, with all of us right now and today.

We have no time to waste…we have no time to sit and complain, we have no time to be anxious, we have no time to wish things were different…they are not different…they are very obviously the same...but we don’t have to stay the same.