Lessons to Relearn for Today
The World According to Chandra D:
Photo by Tom Podmore on Unsplash
Charles Baudelaire, the famous 19th Century poet, said: “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”
Perhaps the greatest trick that present day dictators and oppressors ever pulled is convincing the world that history is not important, and that it does not repeat itself.
History is, in some ways, a social construct because simply put, the victors get to decide the “facts” and the narrative. Unfortunately, alternative versions are devalued, labelled as conspiracy theories, or simply suppressed. However, irrespective of whether the history that we know and accept is an intriguing mixture of reality and fiction, it is still important to have that knowledge. Awareness of our past gives us the tools to manage our present and future.
These invaluable tools are passed down or bequeathed to us in numerous forms, not just “boring” historical texts and “dusty” biographies. Lessons about the world – historical, social, cultural – are available in fairy tales, folklores, fables, short stories, parables, images on churches and temples, paintings, graffiti, etc.
Perhaps the biggest challenge we have as a society is to realize and honour both our Oral traditions and our Written texts. They allow us to see how similar trends and narratives in our present led to disastrous events and situations in the past and this allows us to make informed decisions about today’s issues. Or to put it in simpler terms: forewarned is forearmed.
Photo by Tbel Abuseridze on Unsplash
In this blog, The World According to Chandra D, I will be referencing a variety of texts and relating them to our present circumstances. This is something I have been doing for 25 years with my students. Frankly, it is one of my passions: connecting the past and the present, seeing how one impacts the other, and giving my students the means to continue growing and developing in their own individual ways beyond my classroom.
I would be delighted to have you join me on this journey!
Chandra deVita
August 24th, 2022