Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Now I Become Myself
This poem is all about living in the moment. When one looks at the work holistically this becomes fairly evident; in the introduction Sarton writes "Now I become myself..." the very use of the word now implies immediacy of the moment. Later she remarks "Now to stand still, to be here / Feel my own weight and density! The black shadow on the paper..." This is the second reference of "Now" but more significantly with this section is the use of the color black; from a physics standpoint black is the color black because it absorbs all colors into itself it is, in essence a singularity of moment, a pinpoint of action. Still further she states, "Now there is time and Time is young / O, in this single hour I life / All of myself and do not move. / I, the pursued, who madly ran, / Stand still, stand still, and stop the sun!" Again this starts with the word "Now" which creates an archetypal union of the word thus emphasizing its relevance to the overall theme. Moreover in this section lies the key allusion of the work "...stop the sun!" an obvious biblical reference to the book of Joshua where God literally stops the sun from moving so that the foes of Israel may be delivered into their hands. What teachers can take from such thoughts is to be in the moment with students; do not let their past misdeeds guide your actions, do not let the past day or night and its difficulties mar your complexion, instead BE with your students and serve them as best you can for in that moment in that hour you are alive, and for all you know in the next you shall no longer be thus.
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First of all, it would have been helpful if you would have included the entire poem for me to read. But I think I can get the jist of the poem by piecing together the lines that you mentioned. The poet, no doubt, is referring to fully living in the moment. By suggesting that we be still and not run I cannot help but pause and wonder if there is much value in all of the busyness we pack into our lives. We run through our personal life, through our job, through our relationships with God and others. So much running and are we going anywhere? In 1 Corinthians 9:24 it says "Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it." Do you want to lose your perspective and your heart? Do you have the time to see things from God's perspective each day? I think relating to the previous blog entry about integrity and identity, one should again hold to a different set of values than others typically do. In your interactions with your students, you should strive to make quality connections. The hard part is that so much pressure is placed on educators to achieve scores and hit the numbers and teach to the test, that is is harder than ever to make a personal impact on others each day. But God promises us that this is possible, that this is His Will for us, too. He promises that "there is hope in your future" in Jeremiah 31:17. Live each day like you have that hope.
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