Once Upon A Time in America

Although I have seen neither Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter nor Oliver Stone's Lincoln (portrayed by an Irish actor...similar to Elizabeth being played by an Aussie...), though I most likely will see the latter, I am no less aware of the "Lincoln Hype" of late. So much, that dare I say it, Lincoln is in danger of overexposure, like so many, many things in America. Once the band wagon starts a rolling, there's no stopping it, until the next fad, that is.

And, sadly to say, it seems that that is all Lincoln is right now, a fad. It seems that nothing would put you into bad favor more than saying something negative about Lincoln. A CNN report shows that bi-partisan agreement votes Lincoln as the best President ever.

Yet, the reality that I see is not that of Lincoln bringing the country together, but rather fraction upon fraction of the fabric of the Stars and Stripes seems to be showing lately. I do not see the Land of Lincoln when I read about politics there, but that is supposedly what everyone champions. So, where is the disjunct?

The rift is in Time. It is fine to talk about a dead President and how he tried to unite, but when we are in the Present, it is almost counter the grain to even suggest a current President could unite. Lincoln has become legend, and is no longer history. And, when history becomes legend, it loses its true hold on the Present. When the man becomes a myth, the responsibility to live up to his standards ceases to apply. It becomes transcendent, and becomes the stuff of movies, not motions in Congress.

When I was in India, Lincoln was far and away the most well-known American, along with MLK and Bill Gates, but, there, the kids actually knew his words, not that he was an axe-wielding vampire killer. I swear, if I see one more, stupid series based on Vampires, I will scream. The only logical next step is "My Vampire's Vampire is a Vampire!" Seriously, people. Get over the vampires...

I digress.

Back to Lincoln. What is amazing is how recent in history Lincoln actually is. For some, he is literally only a few generations back (my mother's family included), but the world of Lincoln is light years away. The speed in which America grew and developed, like an adolescent on steroids, is mind-boggling when you view the History of Europe, much less something like India or China. As such, the relativity of Time's arrow seems so much further for me in America than when I go to Brussels, for example and think of King Leopold, who was before Lincoln, but is so much more tangible than thinking of the gangly man from Illinois taking office and taking on the biggest challenge of the country's history.

I imagine that Lincoln's comet will burn brightly right now, but within a few weeks or months at the most, it will disappear again from sight, perhaps to come back in another sesquicentennial. Will his words and deeds, however, burn as brightly in the schoolrooms when learning history, or will he be lumped together with Buffy and Sookie Stackhouse? Or, much like the looming fate of the lowly Lincoln Penny, will he just become a thing of the Past?

Of, By, and For the People

 I began my teaching position here on Monday in Madurai. I am teaching English at the Vikaash World School, which has around 2,000 students or more it seems as we had an assembly to begin the day and I saw the full student body. Originally supposed to be held in the auditorium, it was much more refreshingly done outside in the main courtyard.

The day began similar, yet different to what I have experienced with teaching at the Antwerp International School in Belgium. Similar in that the assembly had the typical student announcements, which are part hamming it up, part nervousness, and part just pure tweenage awkwardness. There were several songs sung throughout the assembly in English, Sanskrit, Hindi, and Tamil. That was quite a nice surprise I must admit.

The eighth grade sponsored a brief presentation on Ramadan, which is currently winding up with EID and the benefits, both physical and spiritual of fasting. There is a minority (perhaps 10%) of Muslim students both at the school and in Madurai, but the presence of Ramadan is felt. During the fasting period, devotees may not eat or drink during the hours that the sun is up, and for some, there are additional restrictions depending on one’s level of devotion. In addition, this weekend included zakat, which is when Muslims will offer 10% of their income to the poor. Pradeep, my host, told me of one of his friends who has a sari or a new khodi made for every woman and man in the village each year, as an example.

After that, I was introduced to the entire student body on the makeshift podium and was asked to say something about myself. I think, for the first time in a very long time, I was nearly lost for words. I stumbled through a brief, formal introduction of myself and congratulated them on their singing, and then sheepishly walked off to the eighteen hundred eyes fixed on me. It was humbling in a way I have not experienced in quite some time.

Afterwards, for the next several hours, I was greeted quite formally by literally hundreds of kids, wanting to shake my hand, ask me where I was from, my name, my father’s name, my mother’s name, what color my eyes were, and so forth. I probably said “good morning” in response to “good morning, Sir” about two hundred times at least. It was very touching to say the least. I know that leaving these kids will be difficult in two months.

I had three classes throughout the day in which I did a more thorough introduction of myself and about Belgium, where I live, and America, where I am from. This was the most interesting part for me, finding out what they did or did not know about America. Most of them had heard of Texas (which does come in handy, rather than say being from Delaware), and California. They knew the two oceans (these were 7th graders, for a reference) on each side of the US. They are very adamant about saying “the United States of America” here and not just “America” as in Europe as a side note. Then, came the curious part. I pointed to the East Coast and asked them what big city is up here in the corner? Without fail, in each class, the answer was “Washington D.C.,” not “New York City.” Many of them had not really heard of New York, which was when I really felt that I was on the other side of the globe.

All of them knew Barack Obama was the President and that he lived in the White House, and some of them knew that D.C. meant District of Columbia, but not New York! And, they knew Chicago (my sister will be happy to hear), which I found curious. Then, the teacher accompanying me told me why. Swami Vivekananda, a famous Indian sage who left from Mumbai to go to the US delivered a famous oration there called, “Brothers and Sisters” on equality. When I asked for them to tell me two famous Americans? The answer, without exception in all three classes: Martin Luther King, Jr., Abraham Lincoln, and Bill Gates. Yet, that sums up Southern India quite well. Tamil Nadu has a long history of being the most difficult state in India to “subdue” and was never really “conquered” by the British and is rather strident in their distinction from the North, particularly when it comes to keeping the Tamil language free from Hindi loan words. In addition, Madurai is known as being a center for IT innovation in India, so I imagine that many of the children knew Gates from their parents’ professions in some way or another.

It was interesting though that King and Lincoln were their model Americans, something I was quite proud to hear, and it did send a shiver up the spine in the first class when they knew the phrase from the Gettysburg Address that the government shall be “of the people, by the people and for the people.” India is in the midst of its own political sticking points including a recent (and successful) hunger fast by the “Anna Party” to combat graft and corruption in the central government.

Part of my assignment here will be to help educate them about “my” world while also learning about theirs. However, they set the bar pretty high on the first day for me to be thinking about what I can provide them about my own history, which I may evern be learning more about from them.