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Tuesday, November 25, 2008

The wisdom of the ages

Every being and every thing in this universe seem to beconnected. There is connectedness between the people who lived and are going to occupy the planet earth.
There is also interrelatedness between animate and inanimate beings. It appeard to the enlightened that they were living amidst one great big reality.
People from various places and times differed in food habit, dress code, climatic context and other external features; but there is harmony in their search for meaning, struggle for life and the way they solved their problems.
They walked the same earth as we do. They shared the same dream, aspired for the same truth, hoped for the same future as we do now. We share many things in common. In that way we are connected with our ancestors.
People learnt secrets about living not only from other cultures but also from animals, plants and other beings.
This collective wisdom of the ages is what we call heritage or cultural heritage. Albert Camus wrote, “Without culture, and the relative freedom it implies, society, even when perfect, is but a jungle. This is why any authentic creation is a gift to the future.” It is for this purpose everyone needs to nourish the gift of heritage.
Heritage is such a strong term that it seems to have become popularly interchangeable with history itself. It suggests however some obligation on the part of the present to the past and also on behalf of the future, and that the past should give us in some way a lesson for the present and future.
Heritage suggests continuity, perhaps of ideals felt to be in decline, and usually suggests some fixity of form or practice.
Heritage, like tradition, is a way of managing the past, managing history and (re)presenting it in the present.
Heritage is in a sense, not only a ‘reading’ of the past but a ‘writing’ of it - a way of establishing ‘history’ itself. This places considerable responsibility on the presentation and also offers great opportunities for manipulation of it for commercial ends.
There are many contradictions. Ironically something becomes ‘heritage’ only when it is in danger of being lost.
Heritage suggests agreement about what is to be valued and what an object or activity means - whereas at the time of its creation and use there would certainly have been conflicts of opinion.
Certain elements of heritage considered to be noble for some groups of people have been diametrically opposed to other groups of people.
Caste system for example is a bad influence that corrupted the Indian heritage. This stratification, though deplorable and hated by everyone due to its penetration in the daily life of the people, is an evil affecting the finest thread of our heritage.
Similarly, India’s social structure is a unique blend of diverse religious, cultural, linguistic and racial groups. But this fine unification is often threatened by elements of hate.
The heritage handed on by Don Bosco and the early Salesians is not a mere collection of rules and regulations. Instead, it is the collaborative effort of Don Bosco with God and our Blessed Mother together with the collective wisdom of so many of the dedicated Salesians.
From 14th to 20th of this month we celebrate the world heritage week. It is a week to reflect about our roots and the meaning of our life.
We need to understand that the wisdom of the ages is collectively presented to us in the form of heritage. Making sense of it is our duty. It is primarily the duty of those who call themselves educators.
Just as Branch Rickey says, “What matters is not the honour that you take with you, but the heritage you leave behind.” After all what we need to do is to leave our best contributions to the society. When it is done, we should sit and rejoice in our own works, for that is our heritage.

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