On Death

Maya Lin, in speaking about her designs for the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial in Washington DC, said that she wanted something honest and something which would encourage people to accept death. In our discussion in class about the reasons why her designs caused such controversy, we came to the conclusion that her monument forced people to confront death and in doing so, she elicited great resistance. Unfortunately, she suffered undue, if not racist criticism of her person. How could a "gook" (as she puts it) offer something that we could accept as a viable work?

The ensuing discussion surfaced a comment from a senior nursing student. She suggested that we are a culture that avoids death, that we deny it is even there. Yet, after class, I had a tearful student approach me and ask to discuss a recent death she and her family had suffered. We spoke about it and she considered seeing me when we were not so public.

My hope for all of us teachers is that we are always honest and forthright about the things which matter to people. We can invite criticism and critique, but at the end of the day, I have flesh and blood in front of me, and they deserve to be treated as such. In the early years, I did not have the ability to be as fully human but teaching humanizes us if we listen closely to what students have to say. I am grateful for people like Paulo Freire and bell hooks for writing the books they have written. I do not always use their methods, for each period requires different tools to teach, but I know that I have been influenced by their thoughts and ideas and I have been transformed by the freedoms which they want teachers to seek.