Mankind has built upon its own advancements for thousands of years by studying, understanding, and applying previous generations' collective knowledge and wisdom. This is no longer the case in America. At first, the intellectual and learned elite of societies would discuss and debate important issues amongst themselves, eventually improving or, at the very least, thoroughly informing themselves of the leading thoughts and practices of the day as well of days past. Then, the written word and the ability to pass down knowledge and observations verbatim enabled vast leaps and bounds in our development, up until the invention of radio and tv, which were far more entertaining than conversation or the written word. Now, Americans are no longer schooled in the knowledge and wisdom of antiquity, or "the classics," or whatever that body of human experience can be called. There is not enough time between all of the math and science and other topics that must be digested (at least SOME history is required, but not enough, and with nowhere near the diversity to which we should be exposed). So we turn out highly unenlightened, non-worldy, non-versed scientists and business people and sales professionals and athletes, some of whom may eventually, as they get older (into their 30's), decide to delve into the wisdom of thousands of years for themselves in their own free time. Like me. Yet as I experience these discoveries and insights and revelations for myself, I feel like I'm the only one who knows them or cares to know them as compared to most of my acquaintances - until I visit blogs such as La Vie Quotidienne by Shefaly ( https://laviequotidienne.wordpress.com/ ). She has a community of fellow bloggers and readers, many of whom seem well-versed in philosophy, religion, history, etc. (although that's not what her blog is focused on per se), and it's a joy to post comments there and be surprised and engaged by the thoughtful and well-versed replies to them.
Wait - those happy thoughts almost made me forget my initial rant about the lack of exposure to the classics in the American education system. Oh well, I suppose we can only do what we think is right for our own development and leave it to others to discover for themselves. As for myself, learning an ancient written language should be just what I need to move things along, so Greek it shall be!
Worth: Thanks for the kind words! The community is possible because people like you take time to contribute :-)
And on that language thing, it is all Greek to me. One of my better friends in the PhD programme is a Greek woman, who is very smart. Alas, apart from writing my own name in Greek alphabet - and in the process learning some peculiarities of the language - I have made no effort to learn anything from her. It is a very difficult language, so you can probably use some good luck too.
Posted by: Shefaly | January 26, 2008 at 11:49 AM