今日は祝日…
何の日？
建国記念日…
正式には「建国記念の日」！
しかし
(^_^?)ハテ?
何がどうしたって？？？
神武天皇が初代天皇として即位し日本国の始まりと定めた日
ほぅほぅ(*゜д゜))
アメリカで言う「独立記念日」みたいなもんですか…
しかし
アメリカみたいに国を挙げてお祝いするわけでもない
愛国心の欠落か！？
Question Authority!
In one of my class , I teach Amy Tan's novel , The Joy Luck Club.
It's about four Chinese mothers and their American born daughters who often misunderstand each other because of a huge culture gap between them.
Tough they live in America , the mothers are still very Chinese , and the daughters , who have never even been to China , are very American.
At one point in the novel , an angry mother shouts at her daughter , "Only two kinds of daughters...Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind!
Only one kind of daughter can live in this house.
Obedient daughter!"
The daughter's reply : "Then I wish I wasn't your daughter.
I wish you weren't my mother."
Obedience to parents comes up again and again in the novel as a traditional Chinese value.
And the daughters , just as often , absolutely refuse to obey their parents.
I'm always struck by how realistic these American daughters seem.
I'm not sure what makes American kids so rebellious , but the idea that we should "question authority" seems to be everywhere in the culture.
In fact , in another of Tan's novels I was reading the other day , one of the characters is wearing a T-shirt with "Question Authority"
slogan on it.
"Authority" is this expression means any person or organization with power.
It might be a parents , teacher , boss , the government , or just rules in general.
To "question" authority means not to trust these people or rules ; in other words , to challenge them.
American kids are taught this idea in school.
For example , they learn about Henry David Thoreau , one of the first American writers.
His famous essay "Civil Disobedience"
explains that it's sometimes necessary to go to jail if the law is wrong.
He himself spent the night jail for refusing to support the Mexican War with his taxes.
Another example is Huckleberry Finn , the classic novel by Mark Twain.
Like Thoreau , Huck breaks the law when he helps Jim , a slave , escape.
But Huck doesn't do this to question authority as Thoreau did.
He's just a young boy who wants to help someone he cares about.
At the same time , Huck believes he's wrong to help a slave because that's what the adults say.
But his heart tells him to do it.
Of course , the reader knows Huck is right , and in this way , the novel teaches the lesson of trusting our own heart rather than authority.
Once you're aware of this pattern , you can see it all over American culture.
In movies , books ,TV shows , you name it.
So I guess it's not surprising that American kids often believe they're right and adults are wrong.
And of course , like Huck , they often are.
But sometimes the "question authority" habit goes too far.
I remember one guy in my French class when I was a college student.
He was so angry that he couldn't understand French.
Every week he raised his hand in class and challenged the teacher : "Why do they say it that way ? It doesn't make sense!" he'd shout.
Remembering this makes me grateful for my teaching job in Japan!
I can't imagine any of my students getting mad at me because English pronunciation or spelling doesn't make sense.
In fact , since coming to Japan , I've probably become more willing to accept authority , at least in small ways.
I remember about a year ago , an English friend and I were waiting at a red light.
Then we noticed everyone else crossing the street.
We looked at each other and laughed.
In our own countries , we would never wait at a red light if no car were coming.
We were used to people in Japan waiting , but now we were the only ones following the rule.
What happened to question authority?!