Are You a Poet or a Politician?

Recently in an English class on poetry I read aloud "The Willow and the Gingko" to the students. Here are the last two stanzas:

The willow is like a nymph with streaming hair;
Wherever it grows, there is green and gold and fair.
The willow dips to the water,
Protected and precious, like the king’s favorite daughter.

The ginkgo forces its way through gray concrete;
Like a city child, it grows up in the street.
Thrust against the metal sky,
Somehow it survives and even thrives.
My eyes feast upon the willow,
But my heart goes to the ginkgo.

 

 

Then I asked the students, "What is this poem about?"

"Trees," answered my scientific, logical student.

"It's about not judging appearances, but looking at character," piped up the class poet.

 

And my year long or more struggle with the concept of what is valuable and important was once again pricked.

You see, God made each of us the way He wants us. Not that He doesn't want us to change, if I am a liar, He wants me to stop lying and become honest, but my quirks, likes, dislikes, personality. . . God made me this way. God likes me this way. So why do we fail to recognize, or not so much recognize, but why do we fail to VALUE the poets, artists, teachers?

 

I remember while student teaching first grade a little girl, Alana, who was very, very talented at drawing. Once she drew a picture of a horse with flowing mane, and her six year old fingers drew life into the horse in a way that my twenty-something year old fingers could never imagine doing. But Alana was not academically gifted, in fact she struggled mightily.

"What will become of her," I asked my lead teacher.

"She will be lost in the system. If she makes it to high school, she may get to take some art classes, but her parents can't afford to get her professional lessons," replied my mentor.

 

Why do we place so much value on Math, Science, Medicine, Law, and forget the beautiful in life? Why do we hear of starving artists and musicians, but not starving rocket scientists? I think it is because we have forgotten the wholeness of God. Sounds like a leap, I know, but hear me out.

 

God made the world with all of its intricacies requiring mathematics and science, but He also created all of the beauty found within the creation. I don't think He glorifies one over the other. When the Israelites were wandering in the desert and required a Tent of Meeting to house GOD, He asked for the artisans, the seamstresses and tailors, the painters, the weavers, the carpenters. He used the military geniuses to help take the land, but He also used the creative geniuses to lead the people to Him.

 

I'm still working through it. I don't know how you change an entire society's values, but I think I can start one person at a time right here at home. As for me and my students, we will serve the Lord of Science and Beauty.