How to Respond

     I spoke in my book about the division and isolation rampant in our times and the importance of building community in our classrooms. I didn't imagine the challenge to our body politic and to our hearts and minds that we would face in a second Trump administration. Last week, however, I had an experience that deepened my understanding of the present moment.   One of my former students, Nate Currier, whose presence and poetry weave through the chapters of Trust Children, invited me to come to see the performance in Marin of a play that he had written and directed: Gilgamesh.
     Gilgamesh is the oldest story that has been uncovered. I told this story to my students at the beginning of Fifth Grade and described Gilgamesh, the autocratic ruler of the ancient city of Uruk in what is now Mesopotamia, and how he ruled every aspect of his subjects' lives with an iron fist until he met Enkidu, a man of the wild who lived connected to the natural world and its creatures. His encounter with Gilgamesh profoundly changes both of them.  Gilgamesh teaches Enkidu how to speak and interact and experiences love for another being for the first time.  Their friendship is mutually transformative and Gilgamesh is devastated when Enkidu contracts an illness and dies.  His challenge to the gods and subsequent search for immortality ends with the realization that life as we live it is precious and full of wonder. Enkidu lives in Gilgamesh's heart and he returns to Uruk, a transformed man.
     The play was brilliantly presented and I was deeply struck by Nate's grasp of its message for our time . The dichotomy that was resolved through Gilgamesh's encounter with Enkidu has been with us from the beginning of civilization.  The answer to our current dilemma lies in  reclamation of Enkidu, our indigenous heritage, our appreciation and caring for one another, our creation of a community of support in which everyone can thrive.  Check out the story.   Thank you Nate!