WHAT WENDEL BERRY TAUGHT

Wendell Berry recently died. I read a blog by Liz Prather [“Your high school creative writing teacher”] about her experience taking a class taught by Wendell Berry. She states that Mr. Berry taught her how to: pay attention, think independently, live honestly and take responsibility for her words and her life. What a wonderful comment on the teaching ability of Mr. Berry.

We would all benefit if we also choose to pay attention and not let ourselves be distracted by political strife, global problems and hatred that is unfortunately being promoted, and also we can choose to trust ourselves so that we can think independently and not feel like we need to give into hatred and divisiveness but we can confidently see what happens in our lives. Then we can choose to be honest and refuse to join people who act like lying is ok. Finally, one of the many benefits of thinking for ourselves and being honest is that we are not caught up in feeling responsible for others who do not take responsibility for themselves and we can then more easily take responsibility for our words and our actions and therefore our lives.

What do you think?