The word in stone
My students were doing their presentation yesterday. Many came up with rather predictable and safe topics. One student, however, managed to awaken me from a half slumber. She was talking about the architectural marvel of the great German leader, Adolf Hitler. I was listening very intently as subjects like this (involving suicidal megalomaniacs) really intrigue me. What I wanted to hear actually was her understanding of why Hitler's architectural ideas were as such. I wanted her to explain the underlying meaning behind the buildings that were built during the days of the Third Reich.
However, she didn't actually deliver it as such. Instead, what she did was merely explain the various architectural marvels found in Germany as a result of the Nazi regime. I can't blame her totally for her lack of depth. She is young, has only seen life within the first few layers of it. How could she possibly understand and let alone explain that Hitler's architectural ideals were a propaganda of his ideologies and dogmas, an extension of his megalomaniacal visions of a supreme race? That in creating buildings of great architectural designs, he was emblazoning his own sense of greatness and power into architectural history?
Youth protects us from the bitter truth of life. That's the beauty of it.
However, she didn't actually deliver it as such. Instead, what she did was merely explain the various architectural marvels found in Germany as a result of the Nazi regime. I can't blame her totally for her lack of depth. She is young, has only seen life within the first few layers of it. How could she possibly understand and let alone explain that Hitler's architectural ideals were a propaganda of his ideologies and dogmas, an extension of his megalomaniacal visions of a supreme race? That in creating buildings of great architectural designs, he was emblazoning his own sense of greatness and power into architectural history?
Youth protects us from the bitter truth of life. That's the beauty of it.
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