What do you know?

I got completely absorbed in the pre-historic section of the Trier Landesmuseum yesterday, so much so that I was over saturated by the time we got to the Roman section. A shame, because I could tell it was stunning.  Afterwards, Ron and I sat in the museum cafe, having our Apfelkuchen.  (I almost never eat sweets in Minnesota, but being in Germany makes me revert.)  I mentioned to Ron that I  have been fascinated by pre-historic cultures, especially the Celts, since I was young.  He said he wished he’d been exposed to such things as a child.  Not sure if I just come from a really nerdy family. Probably.  My grandfather used to give me historical novels for my birthday.

Still.  I don’t know if it’s just that growing up in Europe you’re surrounded by evidence of history everywhere, or if it’s something different about what’s considered “education.” Maybe when Europeans left Europe and went to America, they wanted to lose that old culture. But why aren’t we teaching our kids how the Ojibway lived off the land?  Kids love that stuff. I suppose we’d have to take the Ojibway culture seriously if we did. And that would cause complications.

One of the revelations I had in the last few years was that my husband, who grew up Catholic, knew nothing about the reformation.  Martin Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, the Diet of Worms, the Augsburg Confession - all news to him.  He knew nothing about Johann Tetzel peddling indulgences and how that led to Luther posting his 95 Theses on the Wittenberg church door.  Makes sense, now that I think about it.  Why should the Catholic Church teach its children anything other than Luther = bad.   

So how does what we are taught shape us?  Once in a while I try to imagine what it would be like to be an illiterate woman living in some rural part of the world, cut off from all but what I can see.  It’s impossible.

In the meantime, Catholic Churches are still the most awesome places to meditate.