An anthropologist proposed a
game to the kids in an African tribe. He put a basket full of fruit near a tree
and told the kids that whoever got there first would win the sweet fruits. When
he told them to run they all took each other’s hands and ran together, then sat
together enjoying their treats. When he asked them why they had run like that
as one could have had all the fruits for himself they said: ”UBUNTU, how can
one of us be happy if all the other ones are sad?”
‘UBUNTU’ in the Xhosa culture
means: “I am because we are”.
"Ubuntu is nothing more or less than compassion
brought into colourful practice."
"Ubuntu is a concept that is present here in Africa but I also believe it is present in every human being if it is allowed to thrive and prosper."
Santa
Claus -
"Jolly Old Saint Nick", "Father Christmas", or "Papá
Noel" - has been arrested and faces extradition after being convicted of sending poor tiny children up chimneys to do his dirty work.
The popular figure was caught red-handed while forcing a boy down a chimney with a large pointy stick.
The child was later found to be carrying mysterious 'gifts', which a police
unit destroyed in a controlled explosion. "I'm innocent", said Santa, as
he was led from court in chains, "I
spread joy to the World!"
"Mister Claus
is being charged of child slavery", said the Prosecutor," The child found at the scene has been
indentified as Tiny Tim, who went missing almost 250
years ago in Old London Town. We suspect Claus of being behind a whole bunch of
child abductions."
"They
do all the dirty work and he takes all the credit. He claims he goes down each
and every chimney - but come on, it's impossible. He's much too fat."
This video reminds us that each child is a unique human being. It is inspired by the poem “Animal School”, originally written by George Reavis in 1939.
It is so easy to get caught up in a curriculum-driven agenda, particularly in the current climate of educational “accountability” and drive for standardized testing. Standardized (but often overstuffed) programs are designed around what society at large, and particular interest groups argue, that all people need to know.
“Many people have a hard time understanding the concepts of independence
vs. interdependence, inclusion, multiple intelligences and cooperative
learning. I thought a revision ofThe Animal Schoolby George Reavis might explain it all.” Mary E. Ulrich
Leslie Marmon Silko was raised on the Laguna Pueblo
reservation in New Mexico, a place she came to know through stories that were
told to her by her father, her aunt, and her grandmother. The storytelling
tradition, much of it oral rather than written, is often a powerful element in
Native American tribes, preserving certain ways of knowing and helping members
recognize their connection to the tribe. But these stories are often living
things, adapting and changing to reflect tribal members’ struggles to adapt to an
often hostile world. They can even be a source of healing, as in the short
story “Lullaby” you’re about to read here.
Silko is widely recognized as one of the finest living
Native American writers, and her novel Ceremony,
published in 1977, received critical acclaim. She’s also
a talented poet and essayist. Above all, Leslie Marmon Silko is a storyteller in
the Laguna tradition, using a kind of narrative that in many ways will be
familiar to non-native readers.
There are characters and scenes and a significant event,
but also notice how landscape figures into the telling of this story, and in particular
what the narrator’s relationship is with the natural world. One of the motives
for telling a story like this is to deal with loss by seeking recovery through
balance or harmony. This may not be at all obvious when you read this story,
which on the surface is an unrelentingly sad tale.
Guide for the analysis of the story Lullaby:
1. Background: Cultural and social conditions of “native Americans” in
the USA. Reflection of this situation in Lullaby. 2. Characters:
Ayah, Chato (behaviour, conflicts), Jimmy, Danny and Ella (as symbols in the
story), the white doctors and the policeman. 3. American
Indian traditions as presented in the story. 4. Themes
in the story: Tradition and change.
Racial and cultural oppression. Poverty and exploitation. Language barriers. Deaths
and loss. Reconciliation.
5. Motif:
The Blanket. 6. Significance of the song. 7. The
environment in the story: place, time, atmosphere. 8. History
of the American Indians in the USA: The Native Americans in the 1960’s. 9. Historical
perspective, sociological perspective,
psychological perspective and semiotic perspective.
10. Style 11. Narration
– Narrator
Parallelism between Lullaby and
the current situation impoverished immigrants are going through.
1. Background: Cultural and social conditions of impoverished
immigrants in the USA and in Europe. 2. Families
broken by immigration; impact of
immigration policies on children and parents; the role of the police in the enforcement of immigration laws. 3. Themes:Tradition and change. Racial and cultural discrimination. Poverty and exploitation.
Language barriers. Deaths and loss. Reconciliation.
4. World history of capitalist Imperialism: expropriation and
plundering of raw materials and labour of the Third World, which together with the European and North
American demand for cheap labour have got people to emigrate.
5. Historical perspective,
sociological perspective, psychological
perspective and semiotic perspective.
Opening Stanza from Choruses from "The Rock" (1934)
byT. S. Eliot (1888-1965)
The Eagle soars in the summit of Heaven, The Hunter with his dogs pursues his circuit.
O perpetual revolution of configured stars, O perpetual recurrence of determined seasons, O world of spring and autumn, birth and dying.
The endless cycle of idea and action, Endless invention, endless experiment, Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness; Knowledge of speech, but not of silence; Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word. All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance, All our ignorance brings us nearer to death, But nearness to death no nearer to GOD.
The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuries Bring us farther from GOD and nearer to the Dust.
Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
The poem, ‘The Chimney Sweeper’ is set against the dark background of child slavery that was well-known in England in the late 18th and 19th Century”.
When my mother died I was very young, And my father sold me while yet my tongue Could scarcely cry 'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep! So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep.
There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head, That curled like a lamb's back, was shaved: so I said, "Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head's bare, You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair."
And so he was quiet; and that very night, As Tom was a-sleeping, he had such a sight, - That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack, Were all of them locked up in coffins of black.
A professor of a university challenged his students with this question. "Did God create everything that exists?"
A student answered bravely, "Yes, he did".
The professor then asked, "If God created everything, then he created evil. Since evil exists (as noticed by our own actions), so God is evil.”
The student couldn't respond to that statement causing the professor to conclude that he had "proved" that "belief in God" was a fairy tale, and therefore worthless.
Another student raised his hand and asked the professor, "May I pose a question? "
"Of course" answered the professor.
The young student stood up and asked : "Professor does Cold exists?"
The professor answered, "What kind of question is that? ...Of course the cold exists... haven't you ever been cold?"
The young student answered, "In fact sir, Cold does not exist. According to the laws of Physics, what we consider cold, in fact is the absence of heat. Anything is able to be studied as long as it transmits energy (heat). Absolute Zero is the total absence of heat, but cold does not exist. What we have done is create a term to describe how we feel if we don't have body heat or we are not hot."
"And, does Dark exist?" he continued.
The professor answered "Of course".
This time the student responded, "Again you're wrong, Sir. Darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in fact simply the absence of light. Light can be studied, darkness can not. Darkness cannot be broken down. A simple ray of light tears the darkness and illuminates the surface where the light beam finishes. Dark is a term that we humans have created to describe what happens when there's lack of light."
Finally, the student asked the professor, "Sir, does evil exist?"
The professor replied, "Of course it exists, as I mentioned at the beginning, we see violations, crimes and violence anywhere in the world, and those things are evil."
The student responded, "Sir, Evil does not exist. Just as in the previous cases, Evil is a term which man has created to describe the result of the absence of God's presence in the hearts of man."
After this, the professor bowed down his head, and didn't answer back.
There is an old saying, "wise as an owl". People are always saying that, but the truth is, owls were not always wise.
Once upon a time, a long time ago, the Everything-Maker was very busy, making all the animals and all the plants and all the rocks and caverns and everything else that covered the earth.
Owl had not yet been made. He had been given a voice. And two eyes. And a head and a body and strong wings. Owl was waiting his turn to be formed. "I want a long neck like Swan," Owl told the Everything-Maker. "I want red feathers like Cardinal and a beak like Hawk."
"Yes, yes," mumbled the Everything-Maker. "Whatever you want. But you must wait your turn." The Everything-Maker looked sharply at Owl. "Your eyes are open again. You know that no one is allowed to watch me work. Turn around and close your eyes. I have no time for you now. I am busy creating Rabbit." The Everything-Maker turned his attention back to Rabbit who was shaking with nervousness. "And what do you want, little rabbit?" the Everything-Maker asked encouragingly. "Long legs and ears," Rabbit spoke softly. "And fangs. Could I possibly have a fang or two? And claws. I would dearly love to have claws!" The Everything-Maker smiled. "I think we could manage some claws and fangs." He smoothed Rabbit's long legs and ears. "Silly Rabbit!" Owl hooted loudly. "Why don't you ask for something useful, like wisdom?" "This is your last warning, Owl. Be quiet and wait your turn."
This is a story about four people: Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.
There was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it.
Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.
Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did.
Somebody got angry because it was Everybody's job.
Everybody knew that Anybody could do it,
but Nobody realised that Somebody wouldn't do it.
And it ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody
because Nobody did what Anybody could have done.
or the alternative last line:
And it ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody
because Nobody actually asked Anybody.
The alternative last line is more appropriate for illustrating principles of responsibility and delegation, whereas the one above it is more appropriate for principles of individuals taking personal responsibility, irrespective of delegation.
At the airport after a tiring business trip a lady's return flight was delayed. She went to the airport shop, bought a book, a coffee and a small packet containing five gingernut biscuits. The airport was crowded and she found a seat in the lounge, next to a stranger.
After a few minutes' reading she became absorbed in her book. She took a biscuit from the packet and began to drink her coffee. To her great surprise, the stranger in the next seat calmly took one of the biscuits and ate it. Stunned, she couldn't bring herself to say anything, nor even to look at the stranger. Nervously she continued reading. After a few minutes she slowly picked up and ate the third biscuit. Incredibly, the stranger took the fourth gingernut and ate it, then to the woman's amazement, he picked up the packet and offered her the last biscuit. This being too much to tolerate, the lady angrily picked up her belongings, gave the stranger an indignant scowl and marched off to the boarding gate, where her flight was now ready. Flustered and enraged, she reached inside her bag for her boarding ticket, and found her unopened packet of gingernuts...
One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two "wolves" inside us all."
One is EVIL: It is anger, envy, jealously, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, and ego.
The other is GOOD: It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, empathy, generosity, truth and faith.
The grandson thought for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf will win?"
The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."
Possible questions to discuss with students:
Which wolf do you feed? Discuss.
In what ways are you feeding it? Discuss.
Why do we sometimes want to feed one wolf but end up feeding the other one?
What steps can we take to be consistent in feeding the right one?
Is it easier to be consistent if the right wolf becomes stronger?
Think of some consequences for other people and for yourself of feeding one wolf and some of feeding the other?
There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His Father gave hima bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he musthammer a nail into the back of the fence. The first day the boy haddriven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learnedto control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily graduallydwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than todrive those nails into the fence.
Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. Hetold his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull outone nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.
The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and ledhim to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at theholes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you saythings in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can puta knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times yousay I'm sorry, the wound is still there."
A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one. Friends are very rarejewels, indeed! They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. Theylend an ear, they share words of praise and they always want to opentheir hearts to us."
In a land far away, once upon a time there was great poverty: only the rich could manage without great problems. Three of those rich men, and their servants, were travelling on the same road, in a convoy, when they came to a very poor village. Seeing this poverty provoked different reactions in all three rich men.
The first couldn't stand to see it, so he took all the gold and jewels from his wagons and shared them out among the villagers. He wished them all the best of luck, and he left. The second rich man, seeing the desperate situation, stopped for a short time, and gave the villagers all his food and drink, since he could see that money would be of little use to them. He made sure that each villager received their fair share and would have enough food to last for some time. Then, he left.
The third rich man, on seeing such poverty, speeded up and travelled straight through the village without stopping. The two other rich men saw this from a distance, and commented with each other how the third rich man lacked decency and compassion. It was good that they had been there to help the poor villagers...
