Our students have been collecting money for the Heifer Project for the third year in a row. Last week in our discussion, William noticed that a water buffalo, a magnificent creature, cost less than an ipad. We can do this! he said.
Today we had another discussion about the same comparison -- the massive utility of a water buffalo vs. the sleek, fleeting pleasure of an ipad. How long does each one last, or live? What can you really do with an ipad, or with a water buffalo? It's such an absurd, modern comparison.
Some of the group couldn't imagine such a massive animal. One girl commented that a water buffalo wasn't much use in the city.
What I took from the discussion was that the remove so many of our children have now from the natural world isolates them, from others in more 'natural' setting, from humanity's communal past, from the gloriousness of creation that is, like God's grace, always available.
I once had a student recently arrived from Bangladesh. He liked the Bronx, but he really lit up for me describing how elephants were used routinely, in a daily manner to move heavy objects and uproot trees.
I still wish I could bring lambs into my classes. While I cannot bring a live animal, maybe I can at least evoke the possibility of a more integrated understanding. Can that spark of the natural world live in our imagination amidst the paved city?
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