Hotep people following around the world,
The Instructions of PtahHotep
PtahHotep left behind 37 maxims that he learned from his long life. PtahHotep literally means "peace of the Creator or God". For him to leave behind a list of things that he's learned to lead a peaceful and long life takes immediate precedence. There is a quote that immediately hits me and here are my reflections on it.
If you are a man who leads,
Whose authority reaches wide,
You should do outstanding things,
Remember the day comes after.
No strife will occur in the midst of honors,
But where the crocodile enters hatred arises.
Well there was one thought that kept coming into my mind throughout the whole piece and it was on the topic of the continuity of what Dr. Carr introduces as modalities of the African Diaspora.
In Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition Cedric Robinson writes that there is a raw metaphysical cultural unity of modern Black people. One of the major themes of our study is re-claiming the past starting with Classical African civilizations and moving forward. With those two thoughts in mind, I was thinking about our conflict to liberate ourselves from the powers that be. It entered my mind what if our leaders were aware of our own traditions to claim inner Africa as the real origin of what really informs their leadership.
PtahHotep is the wise, learned pacifist. He teaches that how to be silent in the face of conflict, he says that we need not be greedy and be content with God has in store for us. What if somebody taught Dr. King about PtahHotep at Morehouse College? What if he claimed an African tradition that was 4000 years old instead of saying he liked the ideas of Ghandi? It would be profound if Black leadership could be made aware of what Black people have been doing since the beginning of what we know as "time". It's on us to spread and apply what we learn.
These are the things that I don't have the wisdom to articulate. I appreciate what PtahHotep has to say and I wish to add to it.
Wake up Black people,
James Robinson
Howard University Student Association
Director of Student Advocacy for 2010 - 2011
(786)302.5496
jamesrobinson1010@hotmail.com
@kurtleelove
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2 comments:
"What if somebody taught Dr. King about PtahHotep at Morehouse College? What if he claimed an African tradition that was 4000 years old instead of saying he liked the ideas of Ghandi?"
Wow that's heavy! I never thought about that. I wonder what effect that would've had on the modern Black church. The ramifications of that one alteration to history could be powerful. That puts even more responsibility on us to be conscious about the language and rhetoric we use. What if we quoted our African ancestors instead of Plato and Aristotle? What if our children learned about Kemet and Timbuktu instead of Greece and Rome as the standards for great ancient civilizations? We gotta put in work so that we may awaken the spiritually and mentally dead. Because like Talib Kweli said, "If one of us don't make it we all to blame." Peace brother and enjoy the rest of your journey!
The learning progress of every group member must be included. Task interdependence rears its head in this regard. Since language is best learned when members talk to each other, the students are actually dependent on one another. This remains true even if they do not share a common collaborative goal. Another source of the problem is the diversity of the group. Language learning becomes harder if there are cultural differences to cross. From another angle, this could be a boon as well. www.language-school.hk
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