The Sermon at the School-Gate
2.
“Behold,” I say as I jump onto the hood of a nearby car.
It apparently belongs to one of the teachers,
for there he is cursing the very day I was born and trying to no avail to wade through the
crowds of students and other teachers that are gathering around me, hoping to get to me somehow and drag me off of the hood
of his seemingly most cherished possession. How
convenient. Oh, how very convenient.
3.
I start my speech by pointing at him, my hapless, and hopeless, distracter, then my
gesture slowly encompasses the rest of the crowd, and the world beyond.
4.
“Behold the walking symbol of our infamy, the fruits of our common hypocrisy, the seeds of our future:
students who have spent the day learning nothing, because their teachers have spent the
day teaching them nothing, nothing of real consequence that is. Nothing of real
significance. Not that the situation at home is any different.
5.
“We, whether at home or schools, teach our children
physics, math and chemistry. We stuff their brain with history, geography and religion.
But we tell them nothing, absolutely nothing,
about their own humanness, about the meaning and significance of being human. We
give them no indication whatever as to how they could handle the problems of life. Now why
is that?
6.
“Is it because
we don’t
know ourselves how to handle life, and we are too damn proud to admit to our
children that we don’t have all the answers? Is it because we only want them to be
mere extensions of ourselves, so we can somehow compensate,
through them, for some
inferiority complex, for some deep-seated
regret we happen to have?
7.
“Or is it because we are envious? Yes, envious. For perhaps, given the
freedom, the knowledge and the
opportunity, the real opportunity, they, our children, might actually succeed where
we have so utterly failed. Is it because we are envious?”
8.
Dazed, dumfounded and
uncomprehending looks besiege me. Still, I plod on.
9.
“Behold, behold what we are releasing onto the future, our future, their future: bundles of contradictions, ignorance
and fanaticism. Misfits. Slaves.
10.
“Slaves of our faults,
our inhibitions, our expectations, and our fears. They have never had the opportunity to
be free, and will never be given this opportunity. Will they? Will they?
11.
“Despite their youth, they are the embodiment of impotence and shame.
Our impotence. Our shame. And they are supposed to be our future? Oh, be glad, be
glad, o hypocrites of the world, o worshippers of the status quo, o you incapable of
questioning what has been passed on to you through the years.”
12.
At
this stage, the angry teacher on the hood of whose car I am standing, finally manages to
get close enough to me to tug violently on my pants, and order me off of his car. I
respond with a smile and obey his command, and off I go into the hapless unknown yet
again, followed, of course, by my faithful
disciples who have neither increased in number meanwhile nor decreased.
13.
Misfits.
We are releasing misfits.
14.
But
oh, how I do love these
misfits. Before all, and above all, I love these misfits. For they can still be reshaped
you know, they can still be cured. They are still at
the very beginning of the rest of their lives. They are still at the very
beginning of the future. So there is still hope. Yes, there is still hope, if only they
would listen, if only they could understand.
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lust for salvation, Brother, as though it were a woman, and I - a man.
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