Thanksgiving. E.J. Dionne's holiday column, "The discipline of gratitude," speaks to gratitude given by both the well-to-do and those less-blessed. "Perhaps those with the least best understand Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s famous aphorism: 'Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy.' " Dioneed closes, "We need to remember what the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr taught us: 'Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone. Therefore, we are saved by love.' ”
Columnist Charles Lane, "A lesson from Lincoln on Thanksgiving," remembers James Madison, perhaps the main author of the Constitution, who wrote, “So strong is this propensity of mankind to fall into mutual animosities [Federalist No. 10] that where no substantial occasion presents itself, the most frivolous and fanciful distinctions have been sufficient to kindle their unfriendly passions and excite their most violent conflicts.” Lane ends, "Today, be thankful that the conflicts, dysfunction and threats of our time do not equal those of Lincoln’s — but reflect on how far we still are from adhering to his wisdom."
Columnist Harold Meyerson, notes that Thanksgiving is our holiday of refugee commemoration. We have no holiday to commemorate the first successful English settlement, Jamestown, which was a commercial and political venture, or the first French and Spanish settlements, which were also commercial and political. We celebrate only the arrival and survival of a band of Pilgrims seeking not only opportunity but also refuge. Of the many and varied American creation epics, this is the one we have chosen to celebrate.
The burdens of one's past. Prior to becoming the 28th president, Woodrow Wilson was president of Princeton University. Pointing to WW's admittedly racist past, some students want his association with the university totally expunged. However, as this article notes, one of today's problems is our unwillingness to use the conjunction "and" in examining a person's past acts and deeds. To use a more recent example, Richard Cohen notes that LBJ had his past faults and he spearheaded the civil rights era. Likewise, WW was a leader in many early 20th century progressive movements and was burdened by his bigoted views of the past. Then there was the mid-1950's problem with Rome's upcoming hosting of the 1960 Olympics and using the Fascist era Foro stadium.
My Alma mater, Penn State, was faced with a similar dilemma: one of its library's wings had been named for the then-legendary, beloved football coach, Joe Paterno, who over the years had donated a considerable sum of his salary to the main campus library. Then came the very public, slimy mess arising from the child sex abuse scandal involving a long-time assistance coach, Jerry Sandusky. A recent google of the PSU website indicated that the "Paterno wing" remains named for Papa Joe. With that scandal in mind, I urged my Denver city council representative to vote against naming a Denver Public School stadium for a still-living former football coach, suggesting at least a not uncommon five year hiatus.
Not adult education. Kathleen Parker's column about the crybabies we have raised is worth reading, especially if you have begun to wonder why colleges need syllabus "trigger warnings," and so-called "safe places" for their students. Parker opines that it all begins with the current parenting climate where Johny or Janey are never to be told they are "bad, they are only "acting badly." Then there is the "everyone gets a trophy" syndrome. I would add what I call the "google syndrome" that discourages memorization -- just google it. The teachers in the audience are all to familiar with this.
On Friday (Nov 27), Washington Post columnist Fareed Zakaria discussed the effects on college campuses of the effects of the growing multiplicity of ethnically oriented organizations and courses. He cites numerous studies that indicate these groups/courses, while well meant, actually encourage exclusion, not inclusion. He cautions that all should take to heart Chief Justice Warren's famous statement in the landmark Brown decision: "separate [is] inherently unequal."
But, Zakaria says, "the prevailing ethos seems to be that if one feels hurt or offended that is the end of the discussion." He favors noted black historian W.E.B. Du Bois who said, “I sit with Shakespeare and he winces not."
What The Donald "saw." David Ignatus notes that Candidate Trump is much given to lobbing hand grenades rather that being specific. I would assume that most of my readers "saw through" Trump's claim to have seen "thousands and thousands of Muslims cheering when the World Trade Center towers fell." Of course he did, but only if he was watching reactions from some Muslim countries carried on any number of news outlets. No one has yet to produce footage of cheering Muslims in NJ.
The problem is that not all of Trump's followers are really knowledgeable about world affairs and just take him at his word. Ignatus points out that. "These aren’t just a politician’s exaggerations: They’re dangerous fabrications, meant to engender fear at a time when calm is needed."
Indeed, over the years I had more than a few high school students more knowledgeable about world affairs than Donald Trump will probably ever be. Now, would I give credence to Trump's advice on how billionaires can influence policy and avoid taxes? "You 'betcha Red Rider." On foreign policy, absolutely not!
First Amendment in college news. In his usual acerbic manner, George Will discusses the recent spate of stories about what is happening on some notable college campuses. His opening paragraph sets the tone. Give thanks this day for some indirect blessings of liberty, including the behavior-beyond-satire of what are generously called institutions of higher education. People who are imprecisely called educators have taught, by their negative examples, what intelligence is not. Will ends, So, today give thanks that 2015 has raised an important question about American higher education: What, exactly, is it higher than?
Occasionally I have interesting emails with a former student, a classics professor formerly at Colorado University, now at Yale. I forwarded the link to Will's column and await what I am sure will be another informative discussion. What makes these conversations so interesting is that he was so bright; he could have been a nuclear scientist, medical doctor, really any field -- he chose the classics! A glimmer of reasoned hope in the collegiate universe.
Washington Post cartoonist Toles. (Nov 26th) The problem facing the Republican establishment, to wit:
Paris from the other side. This link is to an article from the London Review of Books about the aftermath of the Paris violence by Adam Shatz, entitled "Magical thinking about ISIS." It is always informative to read what those on the other side of the pond are thinking/saying. Shatz points to an unintended, but perhaps inevitable, consequence, "Recognition as a war combatant is not ISIS’s only strategic gain. It has also spread panic, and pushed France further along the road to civil strife."
What Americans do not understand. In a recent Atlantic article, Graham Allison notes his epiphany while researching/writing his new biography of Henry Kissinger, when he said, "the missing gene in modern American diplomacy: an understanding of history." Further, that "key decision-makers know almost nothing not just of other countries’ pasts but also of their own. Worse, they often do not see what is wrong with their ignorance.”
Returning to Harvard after a four decade absence, Professor Kissinger referred to the assertion by the ancient Greek historian Thucydides that “The present, while never repeating the past exactly, must inevitably resemble it. Hence, so must the future.” To which one might add George Santayana's assertion, "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Allison says, "Kissinger demonstrated, as Winston Churchill observed, that 'the longer you can look back, the farther you can look forward.' ”
Why should it not surprise us that so many presidential candidates are similarly woefully ill informed?
Can you believe this? Here are links to two science stories I ran across this week: one about star-eating black holes and the other about neatly aligned giant boulders in the Bahamas. Both fascinating; the latter can be visited, seen, felt, the former can only be viewed by radio telescope across billions of light years.
Oh, come all 'ye faithful. A friend and I share one holiday thought: Christmas songs are meant to be heard/sung only after Thanksgiving. So while eating Thanksgiving left overs on Saturday, JW played his collection of Bing Crosby holiday music. Most enjoyable.
Thank you for following me. Have a good week.
No comments:
Post a Comment