No, this is not an analysis about the subversive qualities of Bob, Scoop or Benny. It is a tale about the strangeness of my day. I spent the bulk of my day preparing for my history class that I teach, which is tomorrow. We are starting with Columbus, the Aztecs, and death. Lots and lots of death. I am trying to get my students to really think about this stuff rather than to chalk it up to an unfortunate event along the path of the otherwise innocuous story of American progress. So, I am going to wrap things up by asking them stuff like this:
Is it okay to bury a story of genocide inside a seemingly more important story of human progress?
It got me thinking about my values in general, since most Indian cultures valued egalitarianism and a collective conscience while Europeans during that same time operated under the feudal system, where elite families hoarded massive amounts of wealth. I know that I am raising my children in a materialistic, capitalist system but does that mean I need to conform to its values? How do I raise my children to thrive in such a world without compromising core human values? I sometimes think that I am too worried about the mundane, like potty training and preschool, that I forget about the important stuff, like instilling in them compassion and awe for the world around them.
After I finally finished prepping for my class, we had a lovely dinner and I put Thing #2 to bed. When I came downstairs, Thing #1 was watching Bob the Builder. Besides all of the trucks and the environmental damage wrought by said trucks, Bob the Builder actually says a lot about compassion and awe for the world. Bob and Bob's dad built an observatory to view a passing comet. Everyone pitched in and made room for all the trucks to see, even the big ones.
Hey, in this modern, materialistic world, I need all the help I can get.
2 comments:
and if you are really lucky you get the theme song stuck in your head all night!
I wrote a comment to this, but it quickly became very long, unwieldy, and convoluted. So here's try no. 2:
The books I've been reading about King Philip's War have also made me ponder the exact same questions. The nice thing about being young is you live in the moment with no concern for how things have come together to make where you are and who you are possible. I've personally found the bummer about getting older is you look beyond yourself, to your future and your kids' future, and you get a little panicked. So I try to make the most conscientious decisions about everything that I can, and hopefully teach H squared to do the same thing. I give my parents a ton of credit for continuing to impress that lesson upon me, even now.
In conclusion: I do, in fact, now have the Bob the Builder theme song stuck in my head. Curses.
Post a Comment