I have already mentioned the concept of culture being the soil we grow out of.
It is something I consider a lot in my life.
It is in our name.
The etymology of the world Human points us to three key areas: from O.Fr. humain, umain (adj.) "of or belonging to man"
We are a species - homo sapien sapien (which is another conversation about calling ourselves wise wise human - but that is for another day). This means we ALL belong to the same species that is striving to keep our species alive. Race and cultural divisions are subsets... we ALL belong to the community of man.
There is also an aspiration quality to our name: from L. humanus "of man, human," also "humane, philanthropic, kind, gentle, polite; learned, refined, civilized," probably related to homo (gen. hominis) "man,".
I suspect that we all agree this is us, as a species trying to do better. Likely we will not achieve this goal but we know have the capacity and this is something to pay attention to because it is so important to us that we made it part of our name.
Lastly the word human is also derived from humus "earth," notion of "earthly beings," as opposed to the gods.
We are of the earth. Grounded in soil. We are part of a larger community of all life on this earth.
And, to extend the metaphor a tiny bit further, if you will indulge me, we grow out of the soil we create on this earth - culture
It reminds me of the story many of us have heard:
“Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The
other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time.” When
asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, “The one I
feed the most.”
We feed those dogs on individually and culturally on a steady diet derived not only from the sources of perceived culture we draw on (TV, Internet sources, news sources, pop culture, theatre, art, books - some cultural & societal resources) but all sources of learning (there are three: engagements with life, direct contact with others, and cultural & societal resources).
Institutions are a source of learning for us. They are part of our soil. Many people, including thinker Chris Hedges, are pointing to how polluted our soil is.
This sparked quite a debate yesterday.
It got me to thinking about what we are growing in this soil and how would we do it better and what must we consider as we do this.
Not easy questions, not easy to answer but it brought me to a platitude that was making the rounds on the cultural thermometer of facebook:
"We talk so much about leaving a better planet to our kids, that we
forget about leaving better kids to this planet. Educate your children -
say NO to them every once in a while."
One of the things I vehemently dislike about platitudes is there is rarely enough thinking behind them to make them helpful. They are often a trailhead but if one does or cannot think past the trailhead, one can end up in a lot of hot water.
The question is not whether or not, as we are raising kids to become adults that do better on this planet, we say no to them... of course we do. As we must also say maybe, okay, yes and "what do you think about that?" or "why does that matter?"
The question is what dog are we feeding within them. And who else is feeding that dog, and how are we going to do better.
Here is a case example I want to share of kids growing into better adults that could care for the primary communities we live in life & humanity.
This photo is of Sophie & Hans Scholl who were part of the White Rose Movement during WW2. If you don't know this story, I highly recommend you add the nutrients: Sophie Scholl & The White Rose by Jud Newborn & Annette Dumbach. This particular retelling is helpful in understanding what it takes to support the culture that grows better kids to leave to this planet.
Sophie & Hans Scholl were the sort of kids who grow up to be adults
on this planet that cared enough to speak truth to power in a time when
many other people were too afraid to speak up. Together with the
White Rose movement they sparke
d a resistance inside Germany.
What kind of soil does it take to shape kids into people like this.
What did Hans and Sophie draw on? Great art, philosophy, nature (source of learning 3 societal and cultural resources), the strength and clear thinking of their parents, teachers, inspirational leaders in their community (source of learning 2: direct contact with others), and they themselves learned from their experiences (sources of learning 1: life). They watched and questioned if the actions of the Nazi party lined up with life & humanity. When they recognized that it didn't they drew on learned experience to assess, with disciplined thinking, whether or not what was happening was wise or good action.
When I think about growing things, I also consider growing our species. How will I contribute to leaving better kids on this planet? How will/can I assess if I am adding to the nutrients of the soil for others, am I giving nutrients back, creating a toxic environment?
We are
all responsible for the soil from which the humans of today grow
from - culture.
