Valentina
Viscardi
EN 385D
3 February 2015
Tales of the Tikongs
The Right Time
I felt like an outsider the first day of
my service at Tunbridge Public Charter School.
The teacher didn’t realize I would come so early in the morning, so I
sat in an empty classroom, clad with fourth grade decorations. I had forgotten what it was like to be in the
presence of such innocence—tiny chairs, colorful walls, rules of respect and
love across the moldings. I allowed my
eyes to wonder around the classroom and to become reacquainted with the world
that became so foreign.
On the vocabulary wall, there were
words that I didn’t think I would see with students that weren’t even ten years
old: “cancer”, “obliteration”, “reprimand”, and “genocide.” How can a mind so young even begin to
understand such powerful and dark words?
Should those words and those worlds be put on hold for an older age?
When my thoughts were finally
interrupted by the sounds of very excited boys and girls who came into the
classroom, I smiled and greeted my new friends.
I sat and watched the young teacher proscribe assignment after
assignment to these jubilant children.
Shouldn’t their homework be to go out and play and enjoy this precious
time before they actually have to care?
But, then I thought to myself, when would be the right time to expose
children to different cultures in the realm that they live in?
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. advocates
that there isn’t a “right time” to bring, “to the surface the hidden tension
that is already alive” in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Undoubtedly, even the small child is aware
that certain events happen that are unjust.
Crime is most prevalent in our part of town and what can we do to
understand it and provide a solution?
Education. As Dr. King stated in
his response to the priests on his “untimely” movement, it is hard to
understand and fathom the experience of another culture to one who, “hasn’t
suffered unduly from the disease of segregation.” Comparatively, until we are submersed into a
culture we can’t begin to understand it.
From my perspective, perhaps these students need to become aware of the
injustices in their community in order to recognize it and conjure ideas to
better their community.
Cultural identification is satirically
portrayed in Epeli Hau’ofa’s Tales of the
Tikongs. In this intriguing tale,
specifically, the chapter, “Paths to Glory”, a guardian figure criticizes his
son for his “cultured” experiences. He
exclaims, “You think like a foreigner, you talk like a foreigner, and you act
like a foreigner” (45) The entirety of
the chapter is a criticism of the son having a different stand point, both
physically and intellectually. But, why
is the guardian figure so upset? The
idea is contingent with the “anti-development theme” of the novel. While, the son is necessarily developing
land, he is cultivating new ideas that seem contradictory to his upbringing,
his inner most essence—his culture.
This is an issue because if other nations, peoples, and communities
maintain this mindset of segregation of cultures and ideas—social progress
stands still.
Dr. King makes this connection clear. He doesn’t tell us to forget our culture and
but to use it to propel us forward. He
does this by uniting humankind in what he calls an, “inescapable network of
mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” Furthermore he beautifully states, “Whatever
affect one directly, affects all indirectly.
Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial ‘outside
agitator’ idea.” Thus, my thoughts on
why the children were learning what I thought were too harsh of words for their
age groups have come together. There is
no need to wait. For if those children
wait to expand their ideas on other cultures, their thoughts and visions will
be trapped in the bubble of their home lives and communities. In other words, we shouldn’t be scared of
cultural development, for if we can’t understand a community or a culture, we
will never be able to move forward in social justice.
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