Most of these folks have never sent an email, googled or even used a computer. Some never watched a TV, listened to a radio or talked on a phone. For many, the fastest form of transportation was a horse or a boat and for most of history, travel by foot was the way most people got anywhere.
Jesus Christ,
Fanny Brice
Wolfgang Mozart
Humphrey Bogart
Genghis Khan and
H. G. Wells
Ho Chi Minh,
Gunga Din
Henry Luce,
John Wilkes Booth
Alexanders King and
Graham Bell
Ramar Krishna,
Mama Whistler
Patrice Lumumba and
Russ Colombo
Karl and Chico Marx
Albert Camus,
E. A. Poe,
Henri Rousseau
Sholom Aleichem and
Caryl Chessman
Alan Freed and
Buster Keaton
And each one there
Has one thing shared
They have sweated
beneath the same sun
Looked up in wonder
at the same moon
And wept when it was all done
For bein' done too soon ...
For bein' done too soon ...
For bein' done too soon.
Done Too Soon c. 1971
Words and Music by Neil Diamond
Tap Root Music
An uncouth social food blogger, teacher and activist once stated that at his school they tried to comb out all the technically challenged teachers, no matter what other teaching qualities they might have like knowledge, passion for learning, personal character, you name it. Technology trumped all. If you couldn't surf, you couldn't cut it.
When the next generation decides it is wiser or better than the last, they should stop and think about the fact that most of the good ideas are already taken and that if they come up with any, it is because a generation or two or three before them has passed down the wisdom and folly of history and given them a chance move a step farther. You not only stand on the shoulders of giants, but on heroes great and small whose names you will never know.
Go figure.
2 comments:
I have thought these thoughts as well and have decided that though we often stand on the shoulders of giants, sometimes we must slay these giants to make room for new thoughts. Imagine a traditionalist world where new modes of thinking are rejected. Man on the moon, genetic engineering, post-structuralism, and Ben and Jerry's are just a few things that Genghis Khan would probably have never imagined.
we must slay these giants to make room for new thoughts...things that Genghis Khan would probably have never imaginedThese are just song lyrics. How about Martin Luther King, Mohandas Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jeffereson, or mayby Walt Disney, Mark Twain, Homer... it's a very long list.
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