Prejudice and ignorance.

    Historian Elizabeth Cobbs' novel The Hamilton Affair, is about the relationship of Alexander Hamilton and, his wife, Elizabeth. Historical novels are one approach to history and at the hands of an historian who writes well it can both delight and inform.
    During Hamilton's struggle to establish a banking system for the fledgling United Sates, Cobbs writes "But as often happened, stubborn assumptions impeded comprehension. In Alexander's experience, prejudice and ignorance were brick and mortar of men's prisons."  P.170
    "None are so blind as those who will not see."• According to the ‘Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings’ this proverb has been traced back to 1546 (John Heywood), and resembles the Biblical verse Jeremiah 5:21 (‘Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not’). In 1738 it was used by Jonathan Swift in his ‘Polite Conversation’ and is first attested in the United States in the 1713 ‘Works of Thomas Chalkley’. The full saying is: ‘There are none so blind as those who will not see. The most deluded people are those who choose to ignore what they already know’. 
    Hamilton is correct about the role of prejudice and ignorance. Certainly we are imprisoned by by both our prejudice and our ignorance. None are so wise as those who sincerely ask "help me understand."

     Yesterday, in posting my random picture of the day which featured last year's grade five, I was struck by sudden sadness. In January I taught this group for the third year. There has always been a special spark in this class. It saddens me that it's unlikely I'll be able to return to teach them next year.   After 6th grade they will scatter to different schools so, likely I'll not see them again. ☹️☹️

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