I read because one life isn't enough and in the pages of a book, I can be anybody.
September 11 We thought we'd outdistanced history Told our children it was nowhere near; Even when history struck Columbine, It didn't happen here. We took down the maps in the classroom, And when they were safely furled, We told the young what they wanted to hear, That they were immune from a menacing world. But history isn't a folded-up map, Or an unread textbook tome; Now we know history's a fireman's child Waiting at home alone.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on how society often overlooks historical realities, believing the young to be safe from past violence and tragedies.
In this quote, Richard Peck highlights the delusion that children are insulated from the harsh realities of history. By attempting to shield them from the troubling truths of past events, society perpetuates a false narrative of safety and immunity, only to confront the painful reality that history can strike unexpectedly. The metaphor of history as a 'fireman's child waiting at home alone' suggests that the remnants of past crises still linger, reminding us that awareness and understanding of history are crucial for navigating the future.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a classroom setting when discussing the importance of understanding historical events.
More from Richard Peck
All quotes →Similar quotes
The library is inhabited by spirits that come out of the pages at night.
The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
You must get an education. You must go to school, and you must learn to protect yourself. And you must learn to protect yourself with the pen, and not the gun.
The central task of education is to implant a will and facility for learning; it should produce not learned but learning people. The truly human society is a learning society, where grandparents, parents, and children are students together.
I consider the world, this Earth, to be like a school, and our life the classrooms.
We are born weak, we need strength; helpless, we need aid; foolish, we need reason. All that we lack at birth, all that we need when we come to man's estate, is the gift of education.