"Some things are up to us and some things are not up to us." - Epictetus
Long before the serenity prayer gained widespread notoriety when Alcoholics Anonymous adopted it as a motto, Epictetus reminded us that we have control over just one thing: how we react to what happens to us. What continually astounds me is how difficult it is for me to access this timeless wisdom in moments of stress. How about you?
"Getting our history wrong is part of being a nation." - Ernest Renan
If you could erase just one foundational American myth from the way our history has been taught to us, which one would you pick? Now replace the word nation in Renan's formulation with the word person. Which pieces of your history have you repeatedly gotten wrong? That one is painfully easy for me. When recalling earlier versions of Pat, something or someone other than me is often at fault when I speak of unattained dreams.
"Don't stick labels on me. I am not a steamer trunk." - Elizabeth Finch
Those words - spoken by the eponymous character in Julian Barnes's 2022 novella - caught me short. I suspect I'm not alone in reflexively labeling people - conservative vs. liberal; quiet vs. outgoing; old vs. young, etc. In that moment of reading, I re-committed to an earlier resolve, i.e., paying more attention to my labeling habit. Using labels not only limits me as a thinker; those same labels confine anyone I'm describing. Elizabeth Finch is more than a book. Using Epictetus to elevate, Ernest Renan to provoke, and a memorable protagonist to prompt deep reflection about how language shapes our worldview, Barnes challenges readers to carefully chew on his ideas. Brain food.
So the first one totally resonates with me. And, it is a work in progress for me. I can't wrap my head around the second one on a personal level but on a national level I can. Look what is going on with not teaching Black American History in Florida and other places! False claims of CRT being taught in schools and colleges when in fact it is an obscure part of legal school. The third however also totally resonates with me. And as the first it is a work in progress. I find it so easy to label but fortunately since I've gotten older catch myself more often. In another context, but relevant, I was telling a friend this morning, "don't assume" in terms of me not her! Those Four Agreements always instruct and guide.
ReplyDeleteInes; Thanks for the thoughtful comment. Re-assuring to hear that #1 and 3 are "...works in progress..." for you, as they are for me. As for the middle piece of brain food, I too am dismayed at the current turn of events, i.e., not only are some misguided people trying to stop the teaching of actual history, some of those same people are also trying to re-install some of the myths you & I were taught growing up. All of which supports what Ernest Renan said. Disturbing, for sure.
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