Alice Faye
Pluriel (“Plural”)
“The world is plural, we are plural, we have to find the way to live together, curious, the one of the other. And avoid physical violence.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Today’s Meditation comes from Alice Faye, a teacher who follows SHINE YOUR LIGHT from her home in Strasbourg, France. She shares a poem by Victor Hugo, and places it within the context of the recent murder of Samuel Paty, another French teacher, who was killed for teaching freedom of expression and thought. We have chosen not to edit Ms. Faye’s meditation, as we believe her personal translation to English captures the beauty of her native language.
On October 16 in France, a teacher was killed, cruelly, near his school, going back home at the beginning of the autumn’s holidays. We all, teacher as I, have been stunned, breathless, voiceless, in front of this act of violence. Samuel Paty was teaching freedom of expression, freedom of mind. It’s difficult for me to write about it, that’s why I only want to share with you what I believe in, and show you the way I want to take after that.
Everyday, at school, with the pupils, we try to make understand plurality of opinions, importance of talking together, not to be agreed, BUT to include the world is plural, that we have to respect our reciprocal opinions, even if we do not believe exactly in the same values, traditions or ways of life. And talking about that, exchanging, sometimes peacefully, sometimes with anger, is the first step to live together, and the only way to express his opinion. When talking, we use to read some inspiring texts, from people who defends different points of view, sometimes different as ours, to consider many opinions, and, maybe, or not, change ours or enhance them. Talking together is the first way; it’s a treasure. Reading or hearing what other people thought is the second.
The world is plural, we are plural, we have to find the way to live together, curious, the one of the other. And avoid physical violence.
It’s our work as teacher, every days, worldwide, we continue to defend plurality of opinion, expression and nonviolence.
I want to give you to read the beginning of a poem, “La vie au champs” (“Life in the fields”), from Victor Hugo’s book Les Contemplations (1856) you maybe know, and that I want to read to my pupils when I see them again, Monday morning, first classes after Samuel Paty’s murder. A text opening us to the plurality of mind, belief we are all, worldwide, made of the same fiber, and that we can find joy and strength to live by meeting and sharing. Je suis une enseignante (“I am a teacher.”).
Le soir, à la campagne, on sort, on se promène,
Le pauvre dans son champ, le riche en son domaine;
Moi, je vais devant moi; le poète en tout lieu
Se sent chez lui, sentant qu’il est partout chez Dieu.
Je vais volontiers seul. Je médite ou j’écoute.
Pourtant, si quelqu’un veut m’accompagner en route,
J’accepte. Chacun a quelque chose en l’esprit
Et tout homme est un livre où Dieu lui-même écrit.
Chaque fois qu’en mes mains un de ces livres tombe,
Volume où vit une âme et que scelle la tombe,
J’y lis.
Translation:
In the evening, in the countryside, we go out, we walk,
The poor in his field, the rich in his domain;
I am going in front of myself; the poet everywhere
Feels at home, feeling that he is everywhere with God.
I gladly go alone. I meditate or I listen.
However, if someone wants to accompany me on the way,
I accept. Everyone has something in their mind;
And every man is a book in which God himself writes.
Every time one of these books falls into my hands,
Volume where a soul lives and the tomb seals,
I read there.
Ask ChatGPTOn October 16 in France, a teacher was killed, cruelly, near his school, going back home at the beginning of the autumn’s holidays. We all, teacher as I, have been stunned, breathless, voiceless, in front of this act of violence. Samuel Paty was teaching freedom of expression, freedom of mind. It’s difficult for me to write about it, that’s why I only want to share with you what I believe in, and show you the way I want to take after that.
Everyday, at school, with the pupils, we try to make understand plurality of opinions, importance of talking together, not to be agreed, BUT to include the world is plural, that we have to respect our reciprocal opinions, even if we do not believe exactly in the same values, traditions or ways of life. And talking about that, exchanging, sometimes peacefully, sometimes with anger, is the first step to live together, and the only way to express his opinion. When talking, we use to read some inspiring texts, from people who defends different points of view, sometimes different as ours, to consider many opinions, and, maybe, or not, change ours or enhance them. Talking together is the first way; it’s a treasure. Reading or hearing what other people thought is the second.
The world is plural, we are plural, we have to find the way to live together, curious, the one of the other. And avoid physical violence.
It’s our work as teacher, every days, worldwide, we continue to defend plurality of opinion, expression and nonviolence.
I want to give you to read the beginning of a poem, “La vie au champs” (“Life in the fields”), from Victor Hugo’s book Les Contemplations (1856) you maybe know, and that I want to read to my pupils when I see them again, Monday morning, first classes after Samuel Paty’s murder. A text opening us to the plurality of mind, belief we are all, worldwide, made of the same fiber, and that we can find joy and strength to live by meeting and sharing. Je suis une enseignante (“I am a teacher.”).
Le soir, à la campagne, on sort, on se promène,
Le pauvre dans son champ, le riche en son domaine;
Moi, je vais devant moi; le poète en tout lieu
Se sent chez lui, sentant qu’il est partout chez Dieu.
Je vais volontiers seul. Je médite ou j’écoute.
Pourtant, si quelqu’un veut m’accompagner en route,
J’accepte. Chacun a quelque chose en l’esprit
Et tout homme est un livre où Dieu lui-même écrit.
Chaque fois qu’en mes mains un de ces livres tombe,
Volume où vit une âme et que scelle la tombe,
J’y lis.
Translation:
In the evening, in the countryside, we go out, we walk,
The poor in his field, the rich in his domain;
I am going in front of myself; the poet everywhere
Feels at home, feeling that he is everywhere with God.
I gladly go alone. I meditate or I listen.
However, if someone wants to accompany me on the way,
I accept. Everyone has something in their mind;
And every man is a book in which God himself writes.
Every time one of these books falls into my hands,
Volume where a soul lives and the tomb seals,
I read there.
