Another incredible essay from Roger Ebert.
“Sometimes two films set up an uncanny resonance with one another. I saw two documentaries back to back. One filled me with hope and the other washed me in despair. They were both about the education of primary school children.”
Just read it.
Attached to Roger Ebert’s wonderful essay, were three film clips, including a trailer for (and I quote Ebert’s essay here): “A Small Act,” which centers on the life story of Chris Mburu, who as a small boy living in a mud house in a Kenyan village had his primary and secondary education paid for by a Swedish woman. This cost her $15 a month. They had never met. He went on to the University of Nairobi, graduated from Harvard Law School, and is today a United Nations Human Rights Commissioner.
Within that trailer were two wise and wonderful quotes/insights from Mburu, who has gone on to establish a scholarship fund in Kenya named after the Swedish woman who helped change his life.
1) “Once you have a society that is ignorant, it becomes the breeding ground for violence; it becomes the breeding ground for intolerance.”
And, can’t we see this happening here in America–more and more every decade–as our quality of education declines?
2) “How can you change the world? Where are you going to start? You can’t change the entire world at all. So, sometimes it’s just as good to help one child.”
We really do change the world one person at a time.
Well no, to answer your specific question. I believe there is less intolerance and less violence in this country than ever before.
Which isn’t to say that I disagree about the need for improving education, or with Ebert’s analysis of the two films.
Hmmm, I shall have to ponder your view, Poor Kenneth. Perhaps intolerance has declined, but I think that, to some degree, the hot topics have merely shifted focus. Instead of hating Blacks, people are now anti-Gays or -Mexicans, or whoever else is different. You certainly hear the hate-rhetoric spewed as vehemently as ever on the radio, and it’s constantly reflected in the comments section of local newspapers. I often used to hear disparaging remarks about the Lakotas when I lived up in their region, and that was less than two years ago. Religious and Political intolerance seem to be holding their ground pretty well, too. Just ask a Muslim, or someone from your opposing political party. Or ask a Christian about Darwin.
As for violence, our schools certainly seem more violent, at least many of the inner-city ones. Gang violence seems worse than ever, too. Gun violence did decline for a time, until the Bush administration repealed many of the bans on weapons. Now those stats are rising steadily once again.
At the very least, I definitely see the link Mburu made between ignorance and intolerance and its partner, violence.
UNCLE!!