_____'s Children

I had a long chat on the bus home with an acquaintance schooling at NIE. He was telling me about how difficult kids were being these days, and after we had ruled out the possibility of nostalgia coloring our vision, we concluded that changes really might be occurring due to some relatively recent society-wide changes in culture.

One of the things he told me was that the kids were so rowdy and uncontrollable at times that they could even chatter among themselves though he was standing in front of them. That seemed like nothing out of the ordinary, but what we discussed after got me thinking.

He told me that a lot of the (richer) schools were investing heavily in IT and media technologies for the classroom. Beyond that, the daily lives of kids are now saturated with computers, smartphones, and tablets. Apparently the kids that he taught (not sure how representative they are) had real problems concentrating on textbook formats; studies are also suggesting that the attention span of today's kids can only be effectively maintained using digital media.

Going past the stage of vague (though valid) accusations at modern parents for lack of involvement/disciplining... I can't help but feel that this has got to be true... Digital media provides intense stimulation, and I just can't imagine kids willing to go back to books after being exposed to it at an early age.

It makes me wonder about the future of the purely textual book. And it makes me wonder about how our society is going to evolve in the near future. Is it necessarily a bad thing that children are being drawn into these artificially constructed worlds? There's a lot of valid things to be said about over-reliance on technology and the negative effects (psychologically, or in terms of relationship formation) this could have on a child who overindulges (after all, in most virtual worlds, you are pretty much the unstoppable center-of-the-universe). But separate from these admittedly justified worries is the possibility of the kind of future we see in the movies: kids communicating a wealth of information through visual symbols rather than through words.

I love written stories and the English language, but I can't help but wonder what place it will have in 5 years time. To what extent can people be shaped by technological innovations? To what extent should they be shaped? And to what extent do they remain the same?

‎"How do you expect kids to listen to their parents when Tarzan lives half naked, Cinderella comes home at midnight, Pinocchio lies all the time, Aladdin is the king of thieves, Batman drives at 200 mph, Sleeping Beauty keeps sleeping, and Snow White lives with 7 guys. We shouldn't be surprised when kids misbehave - they get it from their story books." -Someone

"Before a famous sword can be forged, countless failures would be experienced first." -Qinsmoon

"Saying sorry in a PR crisis involves knowing what to say, how to say it, and when to say it... And most people don't." -PR professional interviewed on perfect spin

I would advise my young colleagues, the composers of symphonies, to drop in sometimes at the kindergarten, too. It is there that it is decided whether there will be anybody to understand their works in twenty years' time.
Zoltan Kodaly

p. 126: That the economic crisis is the cause of everything? Everything will be set right as soon as the economy is in order? I do not think so. Penury may hamper development but wealth does not always promote it either. Money does not produce ideas. Anyhow, there would be sufficient money here if only it were always spent on what is needed. However, the most valuable things cannot be bought with money. The greatest trouble is not the emptiness of the purse but the emptiness of the soul. And of this we have got more than our share. (1929) -Kodaly

p. 127: We put up the fancy spires first. When we saw that the whole edifice was shaky, we set to building the walls. We have still to make a cellar. This has been the situation, particularly in our musical culture. If in 1875 instead of establishing the Academy of Music, we had laid the foundations for the teaching of singing in schools, today's musical culture would be greater and more general. (1941; 1957) -Kodaly

p. 46: Children's singing games allow a more profound insight than anything else into the primeval age of folk music. Singing connected with movements and action is a much more ancient, and, at the same time, more complex phenomenon than is a simple song. .... In the same way as the child's development repeats in brief the evolution of mankind, his forms of music represent a history of music; indeed they afford a glimpse into the prehistoric period of music. From the reiteration of the smallest motif, comprising but a couple of notes, we can observe all grades of musical development up to the average stage of the European folksong... Here the child's music often touches that of adults. (1951) -Kodaly

p. 196: Today there is much talk of overburdening the students. It is true that the musician finds burdensome the learning of subjects whose direct use in his career he cannot see. If he realized, however, how much easier it is to learn every music subject, and how much time is won if he first trains himself to be a quick and sure reader, he would not rest day or night until he had achieved this. To teach a child an instrument without first giving him preparatory training and without developing singing, reading and dictating to the highest level along with the playing is to build upon sand. (1953). -Kodaly

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No more damage to self. No more damage to soul. What's done is done, and if what you've lost was important, then go and make it back if you still have breath. Start afresh if you still have life.

Uncle Iroh is one of my favorite characters on Avatar: The Last Airbender. His role as a loving, long-suffering father figure to Zuko probably strikes a chord in those of us who sometimes wish we had such a guiding figure in our darkest moments.

Beyond that however, I realize that the scenes that to me, are most defining of him were those of his time in prison. His beloved nephew had betrayed him. He was mistreated, clothed in rags, and left in a damp, dark cell with nowhere to go. The jailer mocked him daily, calling him disgraceful and useless... Yet he never took any of it to heart. He never cursed or condemned himself. Instead he worked hard, trained his body tirelessly, and waited for the right chance to escape. He never told himself he was a washout, or that he couldn't achieve anything anymore.

"The people of the Fire Nation have desire and will, and the energy and drive to achieve what they want." -Iroh

Fatherhood defines Iroh's relationships, but self-acceptance and love defines his character. This is a man who believes in himself and accepts his own limitations, and who gains a great depth of willpower as a result... and these traits are what he tries to teach a nephew who cannot accept himself, who lives in shame and self-condemnation.

"There are no perfect fathers. But a father will always love perfectly."

I think today we look at Uncle Iroh and think of his behavior as something close to the pinnacle of parenting- just the right combination of firmness and gentleness... [On a side note, "speaking the truth in love" is a commonly heard phrase in church... But I wonder whether its only reference is to speaking the truth with gentleness, or if it is not necessarily so...] The reality however, is that no parent is perfect. We can't communicate the lessons we want so dearly to impart to our children, and more often than not, they will refuse to listen... Beyond that, there are some lessons that only life can teach, truths and personal resolve that you can only attain to when you've hit rock bottom, when you've felt what it's like to break something priceless and irreplaceable with your own hands. Perhaps sometimes... it is not the place of those who love to teach, or to get frustrated when things don't work out... There are some things only the Holy Spirit can teach, or which can only be learned over the course of a lifetime... Sometimes all we can do is be there, ready to catch our children when they fall.

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What would I do if I hurt another person I loved, and found myself passing by them without acknowledgement, with nothing between us but an empty moment in time? I felt it again on Friday, the feeling that something was missing, that a connection had been lost for lack of attention or care... ... Damn. I wish that would make itself into something more poetic. Heh. But in any case, I guess all we can do at times is take such feelings in our stride and work to initiate a new connection. It should be a motivation to not repeat the mistake, rather than a constant source of self-recrimination... We can let go, but we shouldn't forget. If all you do is stare at it, it will consume you. If you try to forget what that emptiness is like, then you're also forgetting what it means to be full; the world slowly becomes a blur if you walk down that road...

Matisse quotes

“A young painter should realize that he does not have to invent everything, but that he should above all get things straight in his mind by reconciling the different points of view expressed in the beautiful works by which he is affected, and at the same time by directly questioning nature. After he has become acquainted with his means of expression, the painter should ask himself, ‘What do I want?’ and proceed in his researches, both simple and complex, to try to find it. If he can preserve his sincerity toward his deeper sentiment without trickery or without being too lenient with himself, his curiosity will not desert him and he will therefore have in his old age the same ardour for hard work and the necessity to learn that he had when young. What could be better!”

Matisse

What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter - a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.
Henri Matisse

What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter - a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.
Henri Matisse

Work cures everything.
Henri Matisse

An artist must never be a prisoner. Prisoner? An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation, prisoner of success, etc.
Henri Matisse

I have always tried to hide my efforts and wished my works to have a light joyousness of springtime which never lets anyone suspect the labors it has cost me.
Henri Matisse

I would like to recapture that freshness of vision which is characteristic of extreme youth when all the world is new to it.
Henri Matisse