The Bitter Taste of Fraudulence
After
spending time reading both The History Teacher by Billy Collins and The Partly
Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell, I’ve noticed that both texts have successfully
managed to speak their various messages hidden under sarcasm, and humor.
Collin's poem although short and playful has spoke to me in a number of ways,
and it has also brought up many questions. One of the most influential
questions in my opinion would be what gives the teacher the right to lie to the
children about history to "protect his students innocence"(Collins
1). This irritated me in more ways then one because throughout what feels to be
my entire life, people have taken it upon themselves to go out of their way to
lie to me for in their own words "to be nice" or "to protect
me". So in a way, although the teacher meant well by lying to his students
to protect them; the reader can only be led to assume that (and this is a
shocker) this can only lead to the children's inevitable downfall. All
because he believed what he was doing was noble, as if telling the truth
would've been too much for them to bare so he took the heavy burden upon
himself to lie to them for their greater good. This in no way shape or form
should be a last ditch effort under any circumstances whatsoever, lies only
manage to make things worse then they already are and the fact that people
think that the victim isn't entitled to hear the truth because they probably
cant handle it, really shows one of the most basic types of people on the
planet. Lying isn't meant to soften the blow for the unsuspecting victim, if
anything people only lie to make it easier to sleep with themselves at night.
Better to paint the action up as a noble deed so they appear to be the
protagonist of their own story then actually take a moment to be a decent human
being and tell the person the truth so they to can grow both physically and
mentally enough to stay out of toxic situations for the future. But as the old
saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Hey Connor! Funnily enough, I interpreted the whole morality-of-lying shebang as well. I really agree with what you have to say, as many people who lie don't really see the impact it may have on others. The teacher in Collins's poem had the same issue as the people in your experience, as he truly had no idea how his actions had negatively affected the students. Loved the ending to your post as well.
ReplyDeleteI think that your final line, applies perfectly to this idea of morality. Not the one about serious posts but, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." That one actually hit me, when I realized how true it is. Everyone is just trying to do what's right, but even though we think we are totally right, it's the exact opposite. Consider Thanos from The Avengers. I don't know if there is a more dedicated man to doing what is "right" in the entire multiverse, yet everyone else sees him as wrong. It's a super cool perspective. Amazing post Connor :)
ReplyDeleteI really liked the quote you put at the end, and I was thinking the same thing while reading the poem. I think you are completely right to say that people lie for their own well-being rather than the well-being of others. Lying is ultimately selfish and always does more harm than good in the end. I think the history teacher was only thinking about the kids current situation as opposed to the life of unraveling the lies told to them by adults.
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