Robert Frost wrote this interesting poem. It is unclear what the underlying topic was, but it was possibly written after one of the World Wars.It seems with the passing of Pete Seeger thinking about violence and its meaning, if there is any, is appropriate. There isn’t reason, but it seems human nature to overlook the violence beginning in daily life.
The courage to be new is real in many settings. It is hard to change practices and become someone new, although what human being is about, always transforming. We become caught in a vice of busyness that doesn’t let us see past routines or see into them for that matter. Children likely see past much better and then, as they grow up, they are stymied. The courage to stop violence begins with the person, the self. When I look in, I find spaces where light shines in and helps me walk the path with a little more courage.
I hear the world reciting
The mistakes of ancient men,
The brutality and fighting
They will never have again.
Heartbroken and disabled
In body and in mind
They renew talk of the fabled
Federation of Mankind.
But they’re blessed with the acumen
To suspect the human trait
Was not the basest human
That made them militate.
They will tell you more as soon as
You tell them what to do
With their ever breaking newness
And their courage to be new.
Teacher as Transformer 