by Linton Deck
We
were on a three-week motor trip through England and Scotland planned for us by a
friend who was a travel agent. She had booked
us for a weekend into a hotel on Lake Windermere and recommended a scenic drive
through a mountain pass between the nearby town of Keswick and the western
coast of England on the Irish Sea.
On
Saturday morning we drove to Keswick and found the recommended route. It was a mountain road so narrow no passing was
allowed. In some spots the road was no
wider than a wagon track, and it evolved
into a series of steep curves carrying us up the mountains. The scenery was delightful, but I
lost sight of the scenery as I concentrated on driving. Then, as we approached the apex of the route,
we came upon a series of six roadside
signs with crucial information.
The
first sign read, “Approaching crest, be alert!
Around
another curve, a second sign announced that beyond the crest the road was a
startlingly steep downgrade. I don’t remember the precise angle, but it was
very steep.
A
third sign advised, “Approaching crest -- shift into lowest gear.”
Around
another curve, a fourth sign directed, “Prepare to apply brakes.”
The
fifth sign evoked attention with: “Steer with care, both hands on steering mechanism.”
Then
at the crest, a huge sign with foot-high letters that read, “YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!”
I
stopped the car and we stared down the steepest roadway I have ever seen -- a vertical roller coaster track plunging into
a valley with a rocky stream running through it. We gasped, eased forward and began to
descend. Going down we each held our
breath, and I had an urge to drag my heel on the road to keep the car’s momentum
under control. It was a harrowing ride.
On
the valley floor we stopped and got out to regain emotional equilibrium. The valley, the rock laden river, and the
mountains were magnificent, and we cruised the valley road beside the rocky stream
for miles before seeking a highway back to
our lakeside hotel.
As
we drove, we talked about the signs that had warned us of danger and
recommended action to reduce the risks.
We were grateful for both warnings and recommendations.
The
signs provided three categories of information: (1) warnings to make travelers aware
of potential danger, (2) advice on actions to protect from potential danger,
and (3) combinations of warnings and advice.
The categorization was helpful because the directions of what to do (apply brakes, shift to low gear,
steer carefully) was presented in a context of why (steep grade on other
side of crest) one should do these things.
The dramatically large sixth sign recapitulated, by implication, the
messages of the other signs and made it virtually impossible to ignore the
warnings and advice.
Our
mountain road adventure is an allegorical symbol of everyday experience in
which we need to recognize warnings and take actions to prevent or cope with
danger. Warnings and appropriate actions
are critical to safety on the mountain
road, and warnings and appropriate actions are
necessary along the road of everyday living as well.
For
several weeks I have reflected on the symbolism of the signs and tried to
imagine comparably germane messages for our nation at this moment in
history. We live in a seemingly interminable election
season, and we need now and again to clear our minds of data overload from the 24/7 news cycle and the cablecasts that
demonstrate the consequences of a world with more media than news. We need to contemplate with clarity the
threats to our national life.
In
this time of super PACs and Tea Party politics we are truly, I believe, in
danger. The flood of information
available to us presents and implies almost incessantly both explicit and tacit
warnings of potential danger that resides in and/or emerges from all our social, political, and economic institutions and elsewhere, and I covet wisdom
to identify appropriate actions.
Examples
of profound danger to our nation’s future are threats aimed at our public
schools. Since colonial times, Americans
have been exceptional in our support and public investment in education. First we established universal primary
education, and then the so-called “high school movement” in the late 19th
century enhanced our national life with widespread secondary education
supported by public funding and involvement.
Following World War II, collectively we made additional public investments
in higher education via the
G.I. Bill and other initiatives that made us the strongest and most prosperous
nation in the world.
Now,
however, one of our two major political parties has taken a hard right turn against
education by direct and explicit support
for as well as tacit endorsement of initiatives that have reduced public funding
for schools and embracing the privatization of our public schools in actions that
inevitably will limit access to schooling and shift fiscal support to private
sources seeking return on their private
investments.
Remember
the mountain signs with their warnings and advisements, and then consider: What happens to America when
the stated purpose of schools becomes
producing profits for global corporations rather
than developing the capacity for life long learning and responsible
civic participation in our democracy, and what shall be the consequences of
making schools accountable to corporate investors rather than to their
students?
Ponder
those questions and the issues they represent and remember the sixth sign: YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
© Linton Deck, 2012
ISTM 66 – 930 words
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