“I recently came across the fairy tale of ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes,’ which really is relevant for our time. All we are lacking today is the child who speaks up at the end. We ought to put it on as a play.”
I love this quote. Partially because it uses words like fairytale and child and play. But also because a friend recently told me a very near version of the exact same thing. We were discussing the state of our educational system and the different methods currently in use to inspire our teachers onto new heights. As a teacher herself who has experienced this government-sponsored training, my friend is rather well-qualified to speak on the subject.
May I introduce Preposition Man? I’m sorry if he’s confidential, but no one told me. He’s the little pipe cleaner figure teachers across our nation are encouraged to use to teach English in their classrooms. Under, above, on, beside. Mr. Preposition Man can do them all. Cute for a class full of second graders. But high school? What mental age are we teaching?
“The Emperor hasn’t got any clothes, Mommy!” the young boy screams. He’s not being brave. He’s just honest.
I look across our nation. Where we write “In God We Trust” on our quarters but aren’t allowed to hang His words on our courtroom walls. Where a woman can sue a fast food restaurant because she spilled hot coffee on herself. Where we’re having trouble defining marriage, baby, hate crime, and a whole host of other words. Where schools in Massachusetts recently adopted a policy that any child in their system wishing to be titled “she” must have that option. Even if “she” is a boy.
“The Emperor’s naked!” the child cries. While the grown-ups in the fairytale look on and say nothing.
Back to the quote at the beginning. It was written by a man named Dietrich Bonhoeffer. A German. In 1935. During the reign of Adolf Hitler.
Perhaps these are the sort of thoughts that come when delving into a nearly 600-page biography on the life of a martyred German pastor. Do you think I ought to stick with the daily comics from now on? I’m not really trying to be prophetic, and I’m certainly not political, but I do wonder sometimes where our nation is headed. And who in our country ought to stand up and say something about it.
