Sunday, October 25, 2009

What School Reform?

I recently attended an English class that was held in our library's Rare Works Collection Room. We are studying John Milton in this class (yes, that's the reason for the Milton interjections in a few of my earlier posts). So, anyway, we are studying John Milton and went to this library's room to see some of the earlier additions of his work. This is like being let down into the gold mine to dig around for a while to an English major. We are down there for class and our professor pulls out copies of Milton's "Paradise Lost" from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. We are getting a look at some of the earliest prints of the greatest epic written in the English language; this is incredible stuff. We are looking at handcrafted paintings within handmade bindings that have lasted for these passed 400 years. And inside the cover of these books what should I find but the scribbled doodles of a student who's grandson has long since been buried.

This really puts it into perspective for you. Look back to your high school years and think of the kid in the back spacing out drawing pictures in the school book (maybe it was you, I know it was me every now and then). And that's the book that survives beyond all others. It wasn't the guy who kept his in great condition or even the guy who bothered never to read it and just threw it in his library mint condition. Nope, we get the copy of the person who had to practice the way he wrote his "s." Not that I'm complaining about a little dirt on this piece of literary gold I'm holding in my hands.

It just gets me thinking--400 years ago they were studying grammar, Latin, rhetoric, and science (among many other things). And they reacted the same way then that we do now...blocking out the teacher's voice and idly scribbling as you day dream. So school reform, what school reform? Classes, times, teachers may have changed but have the students? We all have a desire to learn and we all have our moments of daydreaming no matter how much the system changes. And these doodlers have written epics, formed free governments, created the atomic bomb, cured polio and small pox. With as much stress that is put on the school system, those imperfect letters written on the cover of a 400 year old book put my mind at ease. So what I have to say is to the young dreamers--scribble on to great things as many have done before you.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

It's Very Refreshing

Yes, even more refreshing than those junior mints your snacking on; it's vacation. This weekend was Dickinson's fall pause--not break. It's far too short to be a break, and I give credit to my school to at least recognize that fact. Yet somehow it doesn't make up for the fact that we still don't get off any national holidays except for Thanksgiving. But, my, what a fall pause it was. Talk about relaxation, I did just about nothing when it came to productivity. I got home on Friday in time to sing the national anthem with my high school's alumni choir for homecoming, but after those brief minutes of old esprit de corps, I went home and stayed home until Tuesday when I left for school.

Don't get me wrong, this was pretty much the greatest four days I have had all semester. Let me try to fall more into the lazy college kid stereotype--the only reason I got out of bed in the morning on Monday was for a doctor's appointment. Hopefully this gives you an idea of how my pause went. So, in any event, I feel quite well rested and ready to tackle the rest of the semester with new found fervor--right? Well, not quite. It's pretty incredible how quickly I can fall into the swing of things, when the swing of things is doing nothing. I was ready to spend another couple weeks just hanging out with the family. The break, excuse me--pause, was great, but man can it be dangerous. I guarantee if I had any more work than some reading to do it would have been put off.

So maybe, as much as I hate to admit it, Dickinson isn't so wrong in giving us a pause. If we got a full blown break who knows how long it would take to get used to actually working again. The rest is fantastic, but let the pause be just that. Don't get trapped in the habit of leisure, let it be a respite for the work you have. The way I see it, if I had had two or three days more break I would be writing about how bored I was instead of how short, but relaxing, this pause was.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

What a Pain

Recently I've been thinking a lot about pain. This could be due to the fact that I have two hours of muscle screaming, lung bursting swim practice every day, rendering me pretty useless and half asleep for a good part of the day. But, in any event its gotten me thinking about pain in a more general sense.

I think it's absolutely incredible how the body and mind work together and parallel each other in the way they work. Under physical exercise and pain, the body cracks, literally creating micro-tears in the muscles. Under stress and exhaustion the mind weakens and confusion sets in. Under deep emotional scarring we are shaken to the core with grief. And I'm about to make a pretty bold statement considering pain brings on confusion, scarring, and bodily harm (yes small, but think back to how your back felt after lifting that box that was just a little too heavy). I think all of this pain is better for us than if we had never felt any of it. Let's quickly take a look back at those shoulder-paralyzing practices and see that its exercise; it makes my body more fit and in shape and in general I'm healthier for the struggle that it is.

I'm certain the same must be true for our mental and spiritual capacities. Mental toughness is a phrase often thrown around in circles of academia. It refers to the ability to handle enigmas (both social and intellectual) and deal with them until they are worked through and solved, no matter how difficult it is or how long it may take. The mind might crack, but does not break, in a sense. Finally, spiritual growth must come from conflict, from struggle, from pain. John Milton writes in his Areopagitica that "Adam fell into of knowing good and evil, that is to say, of knowing good by evil." He's describing the conflict that man is presented with spiritually and is saying for all the evil that we see every day, it is a thing that makes us recognize how vital is that which is good. And for all the evil in the world, it led to the greatest good of having a perfect man walk among us on this earth. Another poet, George Herbert, says in his poem "The Pulley" that "If goodness lead him not / Weariness may toss him to my breast." Pain, anguish they bring us relationships, connections--perfect or otherwise.

I think people too often run from what is troubling or painful. They want happy lives and carefree consciences. To accomplish this they run or they stand on their own two feet--alone. My assertion is this, accept what pain may come in life, for it inevitably will. Lean into the punch as it were and take the force of it. You will probably fall down, and you definitely will get your share of TKO's, but this is life. The best part about getting knocked out is having someone else wake you up, some one else dress the wounds. You lean into the punch and you're not running on your own any more. You might be black and blue, but bruises heal...with each punch there's another set of hands helping you stand up, take the courage to reach out and grab those hands. Pretty soon you'll have an army behind you.

Like my swim team says, "Embrace the challenge; love the pain."