In the midst of all the controversy and loud discussion about safety and
gun rights, I started reading "The Art of Loading Brush" by Kentucky
poet and essayist Wendell Berry. I have only read a few pages but the book has
been written to begin a conversation about agrarian culture, especially in the
South, its beginnings, its relationship to racism and perceptions outside the
South and how a dialogue based on local, neighborly economic systems and
changing the pursuit of one's life work from job to vocation can make
significant strides in reversing an out of control military as well as a
materialistic, corporate controlled economy that is at the root of the
continual destruction of our physical environment as well as the peaceful,
social fabric in this country So far,
and I have only started, the book seems to be in line with what I attempted to
write about when I wrote “The Peacemaker” and its sequel “New Pangaea – An Evolution
into the Fifth World.”
Berry begins the book with a series of quotes and assessments of the
misperceptions prevalent in American society based on the loss of any basic
knowledge of agrarian society due to the rise of urban economies based on
accumulation of money and wealth from a job as opposed to a vocation. As I read
these initial quotes and intellectual musings I thought of how Hitler rose to
power by shutting down institutions of learning and muting the voices and
writings of the intellectuals attempting to get the people of Germany to remember. Hitler
captured the youth of Germany with his propaganda about Aryan superiority and the
need for “lebensraum” all the while burning books and sending those
intellectuals to concentration camps along with the Jewish population. So much
of that is happening in our society today. I read with horror President Trump’s
appointment of the new CIA director who has been shown to support water
boarding and other tortures while interrogating our “enemies.”
Although I have great compassion for the trauma of high school students
rising to action against a fear for their safety in school, I am hesitant to
think they should label themselves as leaders and voices of the future when
they are so disconnected from their past and rely on social media and peers to
move through this trauma instead of looking for the causes of this disease that
is sweeping our nation and cannot be cured simply by getting rid of the
National Rifle Association and its control over our legislators preventing
sensible gun control. As leaders and parents of those killed at Columbine and Newton have discovered over the
years, the cures lie in the creation of a school culture and climate that
promotes values of dialogue based on reading and critical thinking,
accountability for actions, respect for all living beings and the value of life
in general. Addressing these issues in their microcosm of society would send a
larger message to society as a whole and after graduation from high school they
can be the leaders of a new revolution of meaningful change.
Therefore, I offer some quotes and assessments of our society presented
at the beginning of “The Art of Learning Brush” for you to think about as I
have done so over the past twenty-four hours that have not been free of noise
and conflict from neighbors living in the apartment across the hall from me
and, in conjunction with the school walk-outs have prompted me to share these thoughts
with you as our nation and families continue facing violence and loss on a
daily basis.
·
“You had to be here then to be able to don’t see
it and don’t hear it (anymore) now. But I was there then, and I don’t see it
now . . .” Ernest J. Gaines, “A Gathering of Old Men.”
·
“We are responsible for what we remember.” Professor John Lukas talking with students at
the University of Louisville, March 9, 2011.
·
“Whatever agrarianism is, it is too important to
be a movement. Movements leave little room or dissent.” Wendell Berry
·
Leaders of movements have tunnel vision- their
ideas are right and the others are wrong. They leave no room for debate to come
together to create meaningful solutions. Wendell Berry.
·
Agrarianism is about home, field, garden, stable,
prairie, forest, tribe, village . . . and cottage rather than castle. It is not
about money, it is about culture and how that culture sustains itself with its
relationship to land and community. No public conversation about this exists
now nor has it existed for the last 60 or 70 years. Wendell Berry. Therefore, if our young are to
know about this, they will have to read and study history and relearn these
relationships. Brenda Duffey.
·
Our language needs to develop into a local,
neighborly language that speaks about a vocation instead of a job and a local
instead of global economy. Wendell Berry. This means we need to initiate
programs and methods of food production and jobs that begin within individual
neighborhoods and communities and neighbors need to come together for the good
of the neighborhood first. Brenda Duffey.
·
“. . . it has now been a long time since an
agrarian or any advocate for the good and economic and ecological health of
rural America could be listened to or understood or represented by either of
the political parties.” Wendell Berry.
I intend to do a series of blogs as I read “The Art of
Loading Brush” to share with you my thoughts, my remembering and stimulate your
thoughts and remembering as well that you might like to share with me.
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