All of my life I’ve had a love affair with words.
When I was young, my father would recite Kipling’s Gunga Din to me and I loved it so much that I committed it to memory – all 80 plus lines.
I have a suggestion for all teachers of history: The standard textbooks rarely include poetry, song lyrics, and great speeches. There is a way to stimulate interest in and bring the story of America to life. By combining disciplines, for example, English and Social Studies, one will find that students are more inclined to show an interest in history.
Toynbee once described history as “just one damned thing after another.” But it is far more than that. Gunga Din is the story of an Indian youth working with the British troops stationed in India. The poem deals with courage, prejudice, and imperialism. It ends with the famous words: “You’re a better man than I am Gunga Din.” Of course, there are many other examples of poignant words. What follows are some of my favorites.
Thomas Paine was pamphleteer during the American Revolution. He penned these immortal words: “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.
His inspirational words were instrumental in the victory over the English. One need not be a great orator to inspire. Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Indians was ordered by federal troops to leave his land and settle on a reservation in Idaho. The odds were stacked against him. The Native Americans had 300 warriors and 500 women and children against 1,300 army forces.
They were forced to surrender just 40 miles shy of the Canadian border and freedom. Here are the words of Chief Joseph: “It is cold and we have no blankets. The children are freezing to death. And hear me my chiefs. I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more, forever.”
In a film which, presents a fictionalized version of the life of Winston Churchill, the English prime minister gives an address to the British people who were on the verge of losing World War II to the Nazis. “We shall go on to the end… We shall fight on the seas and oceans…we shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender…”
A character in the movie asks “What just happened? and someone answers: “He just weaponized the English language and sent it off to war.” So, language can be used to stir men to acts of bravery.
Churchill delivered many such orations including his famous “Blood, Sweat and Tears speech.
Not all words inspire men to kill. In “Universal Soldier” folk singer Buffy Sainte Marie raises the question of who is responsible for death and destruction. What would happen if they “made a war and nobody came?”
Here are her lyrics: “He’s a Catholic, a Hindu, an atheist a Jain. A Buddhist a Baptist and a Jew. And he knows he shouldn’t kill and he knows he always will. Kill you for me, my friend, and me for you and he’s fighting for Canada, he’s fighting for France. He’s fighting for the U.S.A. And he’s fighting for the Russian’s and he’s fighting for Japan. And he thinks he’ll put an end to war this way.
But without him how would Hitler have condemned them at Dachau. Without him, Caesar would have stood alone. He’s the one who gives his body as the weapon of the war. And without him, all this killing can’t go on. He’s the universal soldier and he really is to blame.
But his orders come from far away no more. They come from him and you and me. And brothers can’t you see. This is not the way to put end to war.”
The “Universal Soldier” raises the question about “conscientious objection” and “just wars.” It is in conflict with the spirit of the theme song from “Les Miserables.”
“Do you hear the people sing, singing a song of angry men. It is the music of a people, who will not be slaves again. Will you join in our Crusade, who will be strong and stand with me? Beyond the barricade is there a world you long to see? Then join in the fight that will give you the right to be free!”
Turning to John Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath,” set in the depression years when America was looking for answers, Steinbeck’s protagonist, Tom Joad, offers the following:
“I’ll be everywhere—wherever you look. Wherever there’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever there’s a cop beaten’ up a guy… I’ll be there in the way guys yell when they’re mad an’ I’ll be in the way kids laugh and they know supper’s ready. And when our folks eat the stuff they raise and live in the houses they build why, I’ll be there.”
What Steinbeck has tapped into is the ubiquitous nature of the “common man.” He will always be there fighting the good fight.
Dr. Hal Sobel
Great Neck
