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fear, trembling, and absolute power
Jan. 13th, 2009 09:46 pmLast week, I was listening to radio accounts of the murder in a BART station at the beginning of the year, and some of the protests afterward. You probably saw something about it, before it cycled out of the news.
Later in the day, I was reading to Whitebird (almost 5), at her request. She interrupted to ask me, "What's trembled?"
I said, "It means he was shaking, like this," with a little demonstration.
"Why?"
I explained, "he was scared because the king made that whole parade stop, and the king is staring right at him." I tried to stare at her like a teacher customarily stares at a child doing something wrong, with some loss of impact because she was about halfway on my lap. "Bartholomew was scared because he didn't know what the king was going to do to him."
She looked a little puzzled, and asked, "Was he scared the king would want to make him take off his hat?"
"I don't think that would scare him at the beginning of the story, sweetheart. Bartholomew Cubbins took his hat off when he saw the king coming down the street. Do you see it there in his hands?"
WB: "Oh. He doesn't know about the others?" I shook my head, and she went on. "So why is he scared?"
"Bartholomew was scared because the king is the most powerful person in all the land, and he was afraid nobody could make the king stop if he tried to do something bad or scary. And that's why Bartholomew trembled."
I spent a few days thinking about how remarkable it was to read about Bartholomew's inexplicable hats right after hearing radio reports about abuse of power on BART. Isn't it strange how the danger seems different, depending on how much of the story a person knows? (I'm more aware than I used to be that the standard media reports are often distorted, but I still don't know how distorted.) Only it's not strange, and there's nothing new about it at all. Seuss wrote The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins in 1938, and I'd be shocked if he hadn't been listening to distorted, incomplete, radio reports of power being abused far away.
Later in the day, I was reading to Whitebird (almost 5), at her request. She interrupted to ask me, "What's trembled?"
I said, "It means he was shaking, like this," with a little demonstration.
"Why?"
I explained, "he was scared because the king made that whole parade stop, and the king is staring right at him." I tried to stare at her like a teacher customarily stares at a child doing something wrong, with some loss of impact because she was about halfway on my lap. "Bartholomew was scared because he didn't know what the king was going to do to him."
She looked a little puzzled, and asked, "Was he scared the king would want to make him take off his hat?"
"I don't think that would scare him at the beginning of the story, sweetheart. Bartholomew Cubbins took his hat off when he saw the king coming down the street. Do you see it there in his hands?"
WB: "Oh. He doesn't know about the others?" I shook my head, and she went on. "So why is he scared?"
"Bartholomew was scared because the king is the most powerful person in all the land, and he was afraid nobody could make the king stop if he tried to do something bad or scary. And that's why Bartholomew trembled."
I spent a few days thinking about how remarkable it was to read about Bartholomew's inexplicable hats right after hearing radio reports about abuse of power on BART. Isn't it strange how the danger seems different, depending on how much of the story a person knows? (I'm more aware than I used to be that the standard media reports are often distorted, but I still don't know how distorted.) Only it's not strange, and there's nothing new about it at all. Seuss wrote The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins in 1938, and I'd be shocked if he hadn't been listening to distorted, incomplete, radio reports of power being abused far away.
