The thing I find most remarkable about this morning’s announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize going to President Obama is that the committee recognized him not so much for what he’s already done but, rather, for demonstrating a deep sense of committment to peace and restoring a deep sense of hope in the hearts of people around the world.
They’re saying that offering people hope is an heroic act, and I think that’s pretty rad. We tend to be a concrete and literal people, so to step out this way, to recognize the value of empowered and inspired possibility, is quite a leap. And not that far from our mission as children’s writers, don’t you think?
Anyway, here’s the poem all this brought to mind this morning…
Enjoy…
Of History and Hope
We have memorized America,
how it was born and who we have been and where.
In ceremonies and silence we say the words,
telling the stories, singing the old songs.
We like the places they take us. Mostly we do.
The great and all the anonymous dead are there.
We know the sound of all the sounds we brought.
The rich taste of it is on our tongues.
But where are we going to be, and why, and who?
The disenfranchised dead want to know.
We mean to be the people we meant to be,
to keep on going where we meant to go.
(Read the rest here…)
Thanks for snapping me out of my October “this time of year is so busy” whine and helping me to remember to focus on the gigantic enormity of all we (teachers, parents, children’s authors and librarians) do every single day.
Liz: I thought the poem sounded familiar.. but I couldn’t place it. When I follwed your “more” link, I realized this was the poet and poem read at Clinton’s 2nd inauguration. If I have ever read it or heard it the whole way through, I honestly do not remember. But it is so worth the pause to read. Outloud. Even better. It’s gorgeous and something I wish more people read in the pursuit of “patriotism” than what some leaders have designated as what stands for patriotism and its acts. :< As my favorite muse (Bruce Springsteen) says: “Blind faith in your leaders will get you killed.)
This poem explores the faith without the blind fealty.
Thank you for posting this. More timely than ever today in these amazing, changing times.
Sunday morning prayer
Hi, Liz–
Came to this from A Year of Reading and found it tonic–I was at the HRC Dinner last night and heard Obama speaking to the GLBT agenda (not the education agenda), and this poem gets right at how the teaching that we do (in classrooms or in the texts we write) is a political act of hope.
Thanks!