[etni] korczak - quote of the week
- From: "avi tsur" <tsuravi@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 02 Jul 2004 03:22:48 +0000
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The children looked forward to Sabbath dinner each Friday night, not only
because of the importance it had had in their own homes, but because Korczak
made it so much fun. After their baths, after he had led them in a long line
snaking up and down the stairs through the house, after the Sabbath candles
were lit and they had a festive dinner, after they played lotto and won
little candies, after they had put on their pajamas and were in bed, Korczak
would come up to either the boys´ or the girls´ dormitory, depending on
whose turn it was, to tell a story.
He could easily have made up a new one each time, but he favored the old
fairy tales, especially ."Puss in Boots." He never tired of recounting the
pranks of that seemingly worthless cat who managed by cunning and ingenuity
to win his poor master a princess and a kingdom. Korczak knew that children
who feel worthless in a society that doesn´t value them, who feel angry and
powerless because their parents, due to death or poverty, can no longer
protect them, need to believe that there are magic forces that can help them
overcome their difficulties.
"I always thought in terms of obstacles," he wrote. "if I´m traveling
somewhere by ship, then there´s a storm. If I´m in charge of some project, I
have trouble at first, and only in the end do I succeed. Because it´s boring
if things go well from the start . . ." Fairy tales, with their obstacles
that the hero or heroine must overcome through perseverance and strength of
will, appealed to him because they were so close to life.
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