Shades of Contemporaneity
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive. - C. S. Lewis
'If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience.' - George Bernard Shaw
'Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards.' - Aldous Huxley
Years ago, when I was still at secondary school (I am in my 70’s now) I was only vaguely aware of a hearing problem that led to my often failing to catch all of what my teachers were saying, and making a fool of myself when asked to comment. On one such occasions, my English teacher, ‘Jock’ Rankin, put it to hoots of laughter from classmates that it’s making and learning from our mistakes that maps out our progress from ignorant to less ignorant to worth listening to … adding’ almost as an afterthought (which it clearly wasn’t) that any learning curve needs must leave us sufficient personal space in which to engage with what has to be (surely?) the most basic among human rights, agreeing-to-differ.
I well recall thinking at the time it was as good an agenda for life as any. 50+ years on, I continue to find myself thinking along the same lines … although how far that constitutes any measure of my progress through life is for others to say and me to but speculate on (at best) an open verdict …
As every generation must discover for itself, life is a learning curve. We all make mistakes, given that we are but human, and we can learn from these or not; better, though, to consciously move up-down-up on it than let egocentricity get the better of us and turn a blind eye... surely?
SHADES OF CONTEMPORANEITY
Humanity regenerating
mind-body-spirit, struggling
to keep pace
Love comes, passes,
a posthumous consciousness,
upbeat heart
Upbeat hearts, tearing
at cloth ears for light at the end
of tunnel vision
Love-hate relationships
refusing to be redefined by ties
that conjoin
Nature and human nature
consigning past-present-future
to the classroom
Life, death, a passing on
of files confessing to fake news
and stereotypes
Personal space abandoned
at the edge of reason where hope
lies bleeding
Endangered species
clinging for dear life to last straws
of human conscience
Humanity regenerating
chips off tablets of stone recycled
in time and space
Copyright R N Taber 2019
We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive. - C. S. Lewis
'If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience.' - George Bernard Shaw
'Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards.' - Aldous Huxley
Years ago, when I was still at secondary school (I am in my 70’s now) I was only vaguely aware of a hearing problem that led to my often failing to catch all of what my teachers were saying, and making a fool of myself when asked to comment. On one such occasions, my English teacher, ‘Jock’ Rankin, put it to hoots of laughter from classmates that it’s making and learning from our mistakes that maps out our progress from ignorant to less ignorant to worth listening to … adding’ almost as an afterthought (which it clearly wasn’t) that any learning curve needs must leave us sufficient personal space in which to engage with what has to be (surely?) the most basic among human rights, agreeing-to-differ.
I well recall thinking at the time it was as good an agenda for life as any. 50+ years on, I continue to find myself thinking along the same lines … although how far that constitutes any measure of my progress through life is for others to say and me to but speculate on (at best) an open verdict …
As every generation must discover for itself, life is a learning curve. We all make mistakes, given that we are but human, and we can learn from these or not; better, though, to consciously move up-down-up on it than let egocentricity get the better of us and turn a blind eye... surely?
SHADES OF CONTEMPORANEITY
Humanity regenerating
mind-body-spirit, struggling
to keep pace
Love comes, passes,
a posthumous consciousness,
upbeat heart
Upbeat hearts, tearing
at cloth ears for light at the end
of tunnel vision
Love-hate relationships
refusing to be redefined by ties
that conjoin
Nature and human nature
consigning past-present-future
to the classroom
Life, death, a passing on
of files confessing to fake news
and stereotypes
Personal space abandoned
at the edge of reason where hope
lies bleeding
Endangered species
clinging for dear life to last straws
of human conscience
Humanity regenerating
chips off tablets of stone recycled
in time and space
Copyright R N Taber 2019
Labels: contemporaneity, culture, education, history, human nature, intolerance, learning curve, love, mind-body-spirit, nature, poetry, politics, positive thinking, regeneration, religion, social responsibility
posted by R. N. Taber | 10:18
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