Reading Log
FROM: Sherry Yan (04/02/07)
SUBJECT: Do Dead Men Require Footpaths?
What impressed me most is how Mr. Obi replied to the priest.
"The whole purpose of our school," he said finally, "is to eradicate just such beliefs as that. Dead men do not require footpaths. The whole idea is just fantastic. Our duty is to teach your children to laugh at such ideas."
Reading through the entire paragraph, I felt thoroughly imbued with aversion. What evoked most detestation in me might well be attributed to Mr. Obi's self-righteousness and his nasty contemptuous posture on both the substantial and spiritual legacy of Igbo.
I always hold to the view that different people creates different culture and civilization, which leads to the fact that aliens might keep different attitudes from the local. For instance, for sake of distinct cultural background, Americans often deem it weird that many Chinese keep living with their parents even if they have grown up. It is apparent that to maintain a different standpoint is surely acceptable and reasonable, however, to despise and disregard the local conviction and value with merely superficial understanding is undoubtedly irrational. In many cases, the significance of a cultural heritage never lies in the extent to which it accords with the generally accepted notion of the objective world, but lies in how it facilitated the development and civilization of the people in the past, how it buttresses the spirits of the local at present as well as how it will sustain its strength in the future.
In this story, Mr. Obi referred to dead men's path as superstitious and pagan, which should thus be eliminated together with the belief in it. He must have asserted himself as wise and enlightening, but what could be found in his words was merely blind prejudice. Do dead men require footpaths? Maybe dead men don't, but the customs, beliefs and civilization require a path to be passed along. What walked along dead man's path not only includes the forefathers of Igbo, but also the spirits of the ancient civilization, of the innermost of this people, all of which have been an integral part of the contemporarory Igbos, guiding them from the past, through the present, to the future. When Mr. Obi witnessed his finale, he might be reflecting on what went wrong in his demeanor, I guess. But I wonder whether he would be able to find the fallacy, if he maintained indulging himself in the smoke of the biased misunderstanding.