Bear 103 The Memory Maker
Looking back, it seems, is a pastime for an older person. Usually the young, filled with hopes and dreams, have little patience for the past. Besides, their pasts are only short distances away. The person in the middle of life, who is either working on fulfilling dreams or decrying the misfortune of not having found them, is too busy to take a look backwards. That leaves the ageing. We not only have the time for travels on roads of “long ago,” we seem to have the desire to reflect on the flowers we found along the perimeters of our journeys.
I am on the road right now, sitting at my desk, glass door wide open to the breeze, knitting needles dictating the rhythm of my thoughts, sunlight filtering through tree branches, a mockingbird singing one hundred verses of longing. A perfect morning.
Something particular stimulated my mind to wander; it was a package that had arrived in the mail yesterday. It came from Germany. A CD that I had stumbled upon as a result of a google search. Amazon.de was willing to ship it to me for a price almost as high as that of the CD itself. I cringed, but defended the cost after listening to one track online. I was drawn into the rhythm, copied the text, practiced saying the words in double my normal speed. I relish the “Ode to Joy” in this new format.
The CD claims to be an interactive rap learning experience. On the cover Doppel-U, the young rapper, appears in front of a statue of the two most famous German writers, Goethe and Schiller. The book accompanying the music encourages children to recite eighteenth century poetry to modern beats.
This morning, as I flip from page to page in the book, I suddenly find myself in a classroom full of twelve-year olds, reciting “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. I play the CD and more poems come to life. They seem to be my friends, as familiar as if I had spoken their words all through my life. I must have known them all by heart a long time ago. I see my language teacher raising her hand to direct the rhythm of the verses. She smiles at me. I am amused. Looking at the combination of modern beat and old poetry I guess one doesn’t have to stay on familiar roads; sometimes new roads lead to the past as well. I must remember that.
Something else I must remember – and my knitting needles click their approval as I continue with my thoughts – a child in the beginning stage of creating memories might also be in the end stage of his or her life. No matter how long or how short the life, a Bear becomes a confidante, a creator of scenes, and scenery. “The Bear and I” images will collect in the child’s mind to make the bad days “bearable” when the road narrows.
I therefore call Bear Number 103 the Memory Maker!
I am on the road right now, sitting at my desk, glass door wide open to the breeze, knitting needles dictating the rhythm of my thoughts, sunlight filtering through tree branches, a mockingbird singing one hundred verses of longing. A perfect morning.
Something particular stimulated my mind to wander; it was a package that had arrived in the mail yesterday. It came from Germany. A CD that I had stumbled upon as a result of a google search. Amazon.de was willing to ship it to me for a price almost as high as that of the CD itself. I cringed, but defended the cost after listening to one track online. I was drawn into the rhythm, copied the text, practiced saying the words in double my normal speed. I relish the “Ode to Joy” in this new format.
The CD claims to be an interactive rap learning experience. On the cover Doppel-U, the young rapper, appears in front of a statue of the two most famous German writers, Goethe and Schiller. The book accompanying the music encourages children to recite eighteenth century poetry to modern beats.
This morning, as I flip from page to page in the book, I suddenly find myself in a classroom full of twelve-year olds, reciting “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. I play the CD and more poems come to life. They seem to be my friends, as familiar as if I had spoken their words all through my life. I must have known them all by heart a long time ago. I see my language teacher raising her hand to direct the rhythm of the verses. She smiles at me. I am amused. Looking at the combination of modern beat and old poetry I guess one doesn’t have to stay on familiar roads; sometimes new roads lead to the past as well. I must remember that.
Something else I must remember – and my knitting needles click their approval as I continue with my thoughts – a child in the beginning stage of creating memories might also be in the end stage of his or her life. No matter how long or how short the life, a Bear becomes a confidante, a creator of scenes, and scenery. “The Bear and I” images will collect in the child’s mind to make the bad days “bearable” when the road narrows.
I therefore call Bear Number 103 the Memory Maker!
No comments:
Post a Comment