The idea of a
Great Books education seems to carry some negative connotations for some
people. To be honest, when I tell people I’m in a Great Books program, I
usually receive a blank, questioning gaze. For those who are somewhat familiar
with the whole concept, the words Great Books often conjures up images of expensive
leather-bound Britannica sets, stuffy academics, and dead white guys (and I
won’t deny that I do like those Britannica sets quite a bit). But then we read
a book like Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. It’s a Dover thrift edition,
cover price $1.50, written by a former slave. We only spend a day on it; it’s
not exactly heavy on theory or deep philosophical content. Even still, tucked
away in this narrative there’s a hint to everything we do at Shimer. These
ideas of freedom, humanity, and education – they’re not always easy to
verbalize, but sometimes they come blaring through, trumpeted from the most
surprising sources. In his narrative, Douglass recalls the old slave songs,
whose wild, simple notes expressed more than any amount of words ever could. The
most profound ideas sometimes dance just out of our reach, evading all our
hours of study and analysis, then find us suddenly, as if in a dream.
Recently we’ve
gone through a stressful period in the long history of Shimer College.
There’s no need to go into the particulars here, especially as it seems we’ve
emerged to a better, brighter future. Throughout the recent months, I got the
impression that one of the harder things in all of it was that we were once
again fighting for what had already been won. Would Washington
ever have crossed the Delaware
if he knew he’d have to turn around and cross it again? I recall Frederick
Douglass immediately after his escape from slavery, living in New York, in fear and mistrust of everyone
around him. At any moment he could’ve been dragged back into bondage, losing all
he had struggled so long for. Despite the fear and danger, he went on. I recall
Odysseus, standing on the island
of Calypso, contemplating
how much he had suffered and how much suffering was to come, crying out, “Bring
the trial on!” We encounter many heroes in our readings at Shimer, and how can
we help but love them? But days like today I can’t help but wonder, why search
for heroes in the annals of the past, when they walk among us every day?
Viva la Shimer!
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