Last word

Open letter to Religious Studies teachers in memory of my own teacher, Kenneth Oldfield, at the Lakes School, Windermere, 1978–84

Not a lot of people knew the phrase ‘global village’ in 1978 in Windermere.

Not a lot of people knew that it was Cat Stevens, not Rod Stewart, who wrote ‘The First Cut Is The Deepest.’

Not a lot of people knew that Cat Stevens changed his name to Yusuf Islam.

Not a lot of people know that Islam means surrender – perhaps fewer know this now than in 1978.

Not a lot of people could count to ten in Hindi: ek, do, teen, char, panch, che, saat, ath, nau, das.

Not a lot of people knew the word Panchayat (‘Committee of five’) – five elders in the Indian village council.

Not a lot of people read books like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Midnight’s Children, Train to Pakistan, I Heard the Owl Call My Name, A Meeting by the River, Siddhartha, the Bhagavad Gita and the Bible, even.

But we knew and we did

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