There is a temple in India situated on a rather high mountaintop. It takes about 2500 steps to get there. It's not the most difficult climb, but it is a challenge. What makes so arduous is not the mountain itself. This particular temple and mountaintop are guarded by the most intense monkeys around. They are extremely challenging. The monkeys regularly harangue and bother those who go to the temple. These monkeys will make noises at travelers, will not hesitate to stand in your way, sometimes even frisking you to see if you have any food they can steal. These monkeys steal ladies' purses and have been known to bite at travelers while they walk. It's almost as if they are posing a challenge to those who climb the steps and wish to see the temple itself.
Legend has it that there is really only one way to clear the path and for the monkeys to remain docile. If the pilgrim keeps chanting the name of Lord Rama, the monkeys do not bother. It's the strangest thing. The legend says that since the entire purpose of climbing the mountain is to move closer to the realm of the divine, repeating the name of the divine is a sort of code that the monkeys understand. I have seen this first hand. As we climbed the stairs, the pilgrims who walked and were listening to pop music, chatting with their friends, laughing and socializing found themselves bothered by the monkeys. Yet, when the monkeys confronted us, my wife ordered us to chant the name of Lord Rama. As we chanted Lord Rama's name, the monkeys cleared a path for us and did not bother us. One monkey was intimidating. A rather large one, he stopped our driver and started frisking him. In one of her loudest voices, my wife said Lord Rama's name. The monkey stared at her for a moment and then submissively moved off to the side, allowing us to pass.
It is clear that the monkeys only respect people with a vision and purpose. They will distract and bother. Yet, when they recognize someone with a vision, with a sense of purposeful drive, then they back down. Obstacles cease to become obstacles when confronted with the focus of an irresistible force.
There is a life lesson to be learned here. Certainly, our students are going to be scaling some fairly intense heights. The mountains they are going to face in the next nine weeks and the ones they will face when they leave Julian are going to be formidable. Moreover, there will be so many distractions that await them. Any high school hallway during passing periods is the epitome of distractions and so many Friday and Saturday nights all over America are filled with them. There will be obstacles facing them.
Yet, if our students face these obstacles with a sense of purpose and with a commitment and drive that is about their education, these obstacles will give way. If our students embrace the purpose- driven life of scholarship, understanding, and self- rumination, very little can stand in their path. If our students understand that the pursuit of "the good, the true, and the beautiful" are elements that provide meaning to one's life, these obstacles will simply diminish. It is my hope that our students harness this capacity for focus in the next nine weeks and then carry it with them as they "climb ev'ry mountain" upon leaving Julian.
I hope our students have taken some time to find a rabbit this break. They will become significant in our in class reading.
Brief and gentle reminders:
1) Grades will be updated by Friday or Saturday of this week.
2) Students will have to submit a project on poverty by April 11. The project options will be detailed to students on Monday, 3.31.
3) Students will be responsible for completing two enrichment sheets based on the Of Mice and Men reading that commences on Tuesday, 4.1. Steinbeck's reading will form the basis of our last Close Reading Assignment.
Here is the assignment breakdown for this week:
Monday, 3.31
Outline Projects on Poverty. Discuss how tomorrow’s
reading in Of Mice and Men will work.
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Find your 15 Minutes. All Projects on Poverty are due on
4.11.
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Tuesday, 4.1
Read Chapter 1
in Of Mice and Men. Complete enrichment sheet as we read or when
we are done.
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Find your 15
Minutes. All Projects on Poverty are due on 4.11. Make sure that
you have completed two enrichment sheets by the end of the novel. Two
chapters have to be done. If you need to do so, finish your enrichment
sheet tonight.
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Wednesday, 4.2
Read Chapter 2
in Of Mice and Men.
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Find your 15
Minutes. All Projects on Poverty are due on 4.11. Make sure that you
have completed two enrichment sheets by the end of the novel. Two
chapters have to be done. If you need to do so, finish your enrichment
sheet tonight.
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Thursday, 4.3
If Technology
works, we will engage in a study of Social Realism with Nearpad and the iPads.
Given our rough go with technology, if it doesn’t work, we will continue
with Reading Chapter 3 in Of Mice and Men.
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Find your 15
Minutes. All Projects on Poverty are due on 4.11. Make sure that you
have completed two enrichment sheets by the end of the novel. Two
chapters have to be done. If you need to do so, finish your enrichment
sheet tonight.
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Friday, 4.4
Discussion of Social Realism with Nearpad and
the iPad. (Given our rough go with technology, our back up plan is as
follows:
Breakouts with
groups while everyone works on their poverty projects, enrichment sheets, or
plays catch up in reading.)
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Find your 15
Minutes. All Projects on Poverty are due on 4.11. Make sure that you
have completed two enrichment sheets by the end of the novel. Two
chapters have to be done. If you need to do so, finish your enrichment
sheet tonight. “Shots ring out in a Memphis sky:” Give a moment
today to that sky.
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All best in climbing your mountain and the distractions that will hopefully subside and give way.
Mr. Kannan
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