Tuesday, September 12, 2006
This is a cow.
Norman T. Holtaway was the first teacher who ever explained to me that "the word is not the thing" & discussed the dangers of using abstract language. Mr. Holtaway taught Senior English at Roselle Park High School & was the only first rate English teacher I encountered from K through 12. I thought of Mr. Holtaway last night as I turned off the President's speech about halfway through when I became sick of hearing the word "freedom" used again & again as if everyone including George W. Bush knew what-the-hell he meant by it. A person who doesn't read books is less likely to care what's being kept off the shelves of the public library than a person who does read books. I don't remember who said, "You don't understand what liberty is until you've tried taking a few." What is the difference between freedom & liberty?
On the first day of class, Mr.Holtaway held up an ordinary yellow #2 pencil & announced, "This is a cow!" The class laughed. So did I. But unlike most of them, I was intrigued. Mr. Holtaway decided to call this common thing a "cow." We called it a pencil. Why? For no reason other than he was tired of calling it a pencil & today he was saying it was a cow. But it's still a pencil. No, it's a writing instrument & it's a cow. A thing with a name. OK, let's take a vote. "Pencil" wins. so it's a pencil, not a lapiz, a crayon, a matita, or a cow. But "freedom" isn't even a thing. What does it signify?
The President also said we are in "the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century, and the calling of our generation." That may well come to be. But what was the decisive struggle of the 20th Century in 1906?
On the first day of class, Mr.Holtaway held up an ordinary yellow #2 pencil & announced, "This is a cow!" The class laughed. So did I. But unlike most of them, I was intrigued. Mr. Holtaway decided to call this common thing a "cow." We called it a pencil. Why? For no reason other than he was tired of calling it a pencil & today he was saying it was a cow. But it's still a pencil. No, it's a writing instrument & it's a cow. A thing with a name. OK, let's take a vote. "Pencil" wins. so it's a pencil, not a lapiz, a crayon, a matita, or a cow. But "freedom" isn't even a thing. What does it signify?
The President also said we are in "the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century, and the calling of our generation." That may well come to be. But what was the decisive struggle of the 20th Century in 1906?
Labels: about writing, George W. Bush, growing up
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"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
In 1906, it was the struggle to read the Theory of Relativity, since no one offered to make it a Tom Hanks movie.
"you are at liberty within those limits" is placing the word in one context of your choice. " Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose." is from a Kris Kristoferson song. Go to the dictionary.
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