Still Water (Parable)

Once, a very long time ago, people were scattered throughout the earth. These were not the conventional people of four limbs, a head of hair, and opposable thumbs. Some had gills. Others had great, bulging eyes. Some looked near monstrous with hair sprouting from every possible surface. They were all sorts of colors, from blue to gray to white and red.
Oddly enough, though some could be described as hideous, there was no revulsion shown by anyone. You see, there were no mirrors, or even names. No one had any idea what they looked like, and therefore hadn’t the slightest clue that there was a difference. Though their appearances were as varied as the rainbow, there wasn’t even a hint in their minds that anyone was entirely unique. They all lived, died, and eventually vanished without a single trace, so what was the use of names?
Now, one day an odd little creature with no hair, gills, or even color was born. Though It was a VERY strange little fellow, everyone accepted It into the fold. The little creature was given no name, as was the custom, and soon It became just another person on earth.
It was a resourceful little fellow, perhaps due to It’s terrible lack of just about anything. It had no fur, no fangs, no spectacular speed or strength. Other Its had long legs to run, or keen eyes to see, but this It was simply dealt a bad hand. To be honest, It would have been a very helpless little creature if it weren’t for Its clever hands and quick little mind. Indeed, many people found themselves oddly affectionate towards the little It, helping It find food when it suited them.
One day, It woke with a strange thought in Its head. The thought was vague and nigh impossible to grasp, so It went off to find a bite to eat. Throughout the long day, as It searched for berries, the strange thought nudged at Its mind.
It was a very unlucky day for It, for not only was It unable to find berries, but Its friends were far away, still in a quarrel with one of Its not-friends. With a resigned slump, It turned to the river to drink some water. Usually, there was no water, for the river ran too fast to the sea.
How odd! There was no river any more! It had walked the path to the river so much that there came to be groove in Its path. The river followed Its path, but there was no sea to swallow up the water. Instead, the water pooled and stayed still, a most unusual thing! Never had It seen still water! Still, It was thirsty, so It bent down to drink.
“Oh!” It was astonished! What was that in the water? Such a strange face, yet so familiar! It had two eyes, and fur on Its head. A short nose, very different from one of Its friends, a strange pale color to Its skin, and really, what WAS It? It was really very unusual, and It was fascinated by It.
It was just about to shrug and leave, when It blinked. Oh my! The Water It blinked! It cocked Its head to the side and saw the Water It do the same. Now, It was not a dumb person. Far from it! It realized that the Water It was one and the same!
The strange thought finally formed in Its mind and whispered a word in Its ear. “Man.”
Such a lovely word, mused It. Really…Man. So unusual…like the Water It. Guiltily, It glanced around and whispered the word out loud. “Man.”
It went back to Its home and continued on with Its life, but everyday, It snuck back to the Still Water and whispered that word, louder and louder, until one day, It shouted the word and was surprised to find how natural it was. Man. Such a lovely, unusual word, coming so easily to Its mouth. Soon, It found Itself referring to Itself with the word, pleased with how natural it felt. The word didn’t feel right for any other people, but for the one formerly known as It, the word was just perfect. It was Man, whispered the strange thought, and the newly christened Man nodded in agreement.
Man continued with his life, hugging his new name to himself like a particularly pretty flower. It was HIS name, and it didn’t work for anyone else! Day by day, Man went back to the Still Water to speak his new name and watch the Water Man smile and nod. He didn’t notice how the Still Water grew and grew, his steps tracing out more and more grooves, deepening the old. No, how could he notice? Even when the entire earth was covered in the Still Water, and Man was wading in it, he was still blissfully happy. Now, Man could say its name anywhere, and Water Men all around him would smile and nod. As time passed, Man found the Water Men to be more and more fascinating and spent all his entire day with them.
Even when the Still Water crept up his neck, Man spoke his name and the Water Men smiled and nodded. However, this time, Man’s every breath stirred the Still Water, and it was no longer as Still. With a frown, Man turned his attention to the other Them, his old friends. Perhaps it was their fault? Man had found his friends to be jealous of the Water Man, stirring the Still Water as much as they could to chase the Water Man. In time, the Water Men had found ways to discourage Man’s friends, and eventually was no longer bothered at all.
Still, now the water was stirring all the time with every breath! Had Man’s old friends found a new way to chase away the Water Men?
The Still Water was still growing, and Man choked on it as he gasped. All he could see was Water Men, more and more. No Them, not even a single It. There wasn’t a person on the earth besides Man and his Water Men.
“It is Man,” whispered the strange thought as Man joined the Water Men in the Still Water.
“It is Man,” whispered the strange thought for the last time, as Man became the Water Men, and the Water Men became the water, and the water became nothing more than Still Water, with no Man or It to show.

Reflection

*Rages*I WROTE MY REFLECTION IN THE WRONG PLACE AND NOW I'VE LOST IT!!!


The basic gist was: The movie was incredible, but could have had more emphasis on certain concepts. The map, while looking suitably intricate, was not explored in depth and only served as an excuse for Powell to spout some wise-sounding words about man and dominion. The daughter was an unnecessary element that did not serve any great purpose. I did like the emphasis that Powell was not a gorilla, but a MAN amongst gorillas. He was a part of the gorilla's family, and by extension, a part of the world.

Belated Choreographing Ideas

Negative

I had this idea of people carrying 'trash' to the riverside, dumping it there without a care. Then the people would turn to leave, stop, and assume the position of trash. The previous 'trash' would rise up as people and 'dump' the new trash, and so on. Slowly, both sets of people/trash would weaken, until they collapse entirely. They would be dressed in dull, 'ugly' colors like gray, dull gray-green, etc.


Positive

On the other hand, building on my previous 'negative' idea, there could be a new group of people dressed in bright green. One would come and take the 'trash' from one of the current people's arms, walking off camera to dispose it properly. Another would come, and more and more, until the people themselves begin to do the same, slowly shedding the gray clothes to reveal the same bright green clothes underneath.

Reflection on Takers

Reading that one line in Ishmael at the end of chapter 10 sent a shiver down my spine. Maybe it was the way he worded it. To use words like 'ultimately', 'beyond recall', makes the whole sentence that much more solid. The whole thing is made to feel that much more of a truth rather than an opinion.


The worst part is that we can't deny the truth of these words. We can plaster other concerns over them, pretend that those words were never written. We can say, oh, I think we should focus more on global warming, or genocide, or dictatorship in Africa, but it doesn't change the fact that Ishmael's words are very much TRUE.

The fact is, we DO destroy an unbroken chain of real wisdom every time we allow or even encourage a Leaver culture to dissipate in the sands of time. When a species dies, we ARE snapping the chain of its evolution. We are proud that we can trace back our lineage into centuries past, but then we cut off the future of another species' descendants.

"It is ugly."

I don't think those words do this truth justice. This is beyond 'ugly'. This is beyond the language we have invented for ourselves.

Blood, Sweat, and T-shirts

In the clip, there was only a brief look at the six youths getting on a train. An admittedly disgusting train, but still just a train. We learned that most of the people on the train were incapable of rising above their positions in life, not because of personal faults, but because they did not have the money. They did not have the money to feed themselves, let alone pay for education.
It reminds me of one of the passages in "Travels of a T-shirt". The laborers in that bok worked long hours, hours that did not allow for time to study, and the pay was pitifully little, far too little to pay for more than the barest essentials. Like those workers on the train, they could not rise above their station in life, even if they had wanted to. Even an extra hour of work, an extra diligent attention on needle and thread would not earn enough money for one to rise to a higher status. There is, in short, no hope for these workers to become 'better'. They're too focused on actual survival for them to think of the future.

Mugabe

This man has 'eaten' from the Tree of Knowledge...or so he thinks. With that major success of liberating Zimbabwe, Mugabe has been handed the magical apple bestowing knowledge.

It's a pity that he didn't read Ishmael, or even the Leviathan, because no human has the right to say that he is above all others. Unfortunately, his path was littered with minor successes, all of them perfect little rose-tinted lenses to make him believe that his path was truly the right one to take. Killing someone, or many someones? Oh look, we've got diamonds! That's a sign that we're doing right!

He doesn't SEE the whole picture, only the pretty canvas of his 'success'.

The worst thing is that if someone manages to overthrow him, there's a possibility that the whole bloody circle will start again. A single, golden moment of freedom, of flight, then the accelerating fall in which we are fooled into believing is flight.

Scary, how more and more of Ishmael's words are leaking into real-life situations, our true life here on planet Earth.

Dongmen

• How did the site of DongMen alter the choreography that you created in the classroom?

• Now that you know this site better; If you were to go back to Dongmen what would you add or subtract from your choreography to make it stronger?

The site didn't really change our choreography at all. The escalator was just longer than the stairs, and we just put a bag on the ground to prevent our dancers from getting too dirty. Other than that, everything was the same as it was in school.

I'm not entirely sure. I might take out the weird part where we went 'shopping' and use different choreography,, but that's all.