WONDER 3

WONDER -ANTIDOTE?

Wislawa Szymborska, Pulitzer prize-winning poet, said:

"Poets, if they are genuine must keep repeating, I DON"T KNOW.....Each poem marks an effort to answer this statement"

(and I would say the same is true of children's authors - each story is an effort to grapple with the I DON'T KNOW moments of the world - that is - all we wonder at.)

All rather counter-cultural in this age of GOOGLE and WIKIPEDIA!  But surely we need to show our children that not all things in life can or should be measured - that which is most precious is most often that which is BEYOND measure, for it is MYSTERY.

Indeed Katherine Paterson maintains that fostering a sense of wonder in our children is the antidote to much of our worldly woes.

"Wonder is an antidote against boredom and the disenchantment of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from sources of strength.

CATKIN - A BOOK FILLED WITH WONDER