A lesson of tears and toiling breath

us by telling stories about all the people ‘who changed the world.’

Father Galvin talked about them as if he knew everyone of them, describing their lives, their achievements in what they did to change the world. Among them was Nobel Prize winner Dr Ronald Ross, who found the cause of malaria.

From the late Father Galvin, Datuk Daniel learned that the late Sir Ronald Ross was a doctor who loved arts and writings. Father Galvin wrote the doctor’s famous poem on the blackboard and the then young boy from a small village in Simanggang was moved by the words. He quickly copied it down into his now most prized exercise book: “This day relenting God Hath placed within my hand A wondrous thing; and God Be praised. At His command, Seeking His secret deeds With tears and toiling breath, I find thy cunning seeds, O million- murdering Death. I know this little thing A myriad men will save. O Death, where is thy sting? Thy victory, O Grave?”

Ross was a reluctant doctor. From young, he loved poetry, music and literature and with his talent in drawing, he wanted to be a writer and an artist.

However, his ambition was thwarted by his father, a serving general in the British Indian Army, who enrolled him into a medical college in London.

He passed the examinations for the Royal College of Surgeons of England and was drafted into the Indian Medical Service.

His affection in poetry did not dwindle any least. He collected writings of Lord Byron and Lord Tennyson and he was a close friend of English poet laureate John Masefield. Father Galvin took the opportunity to share some of their writings.

On the day he confirmed the growth of the parasite in the mosquito which caused malaria, Aug 21, 1897, he composed that famous poem before writing his official report on the discovery.

He used graphic notations in his notes and reports to describe the abnormal “seeds” of “large cells with pigment” in the stomach of the mosquito he dissected.

Driven by God, Ross found the seeds that killed millions. Driven by self- interests, the abnormal seeds in some men changed the world, for better and sometimes worse.

Using the words of John Masefield, Father Galvin taught our children half a century ago, how poetry was the delight of the community of humankind, the source of inspiration. Through poetry, stories were told, history was written, values are imparted, humankind progressed and the world changed.

And Miss Harrison would bring the young children to the library to read, most particularly, the newspapers. From her, the children learned that language is more than a mean to communicate.

More to it: the culture, traditions, the history of humankind and our knowledge in them requires our command of the language to convey them.

Datuk Daniel and his classmates took the advice of Miss Harrison. They have countless English classes in the library, especially over weekends as home village in Sungai Tanju took days and cost a fortune to return to.

It was valuable guidance of Miss Harrison that the eager young children read all four English papers which arrived months after their publication.

“It was not the news we were after, we had all learned that writers in the newspapers are the best teachers we can have,” revealed the wise man, and it became a routine for him to visit the library every weekend and during his free times, until he graduated and returned home.

How much have we lost, after independence?

Fast forwarding it to 2017, decades later. Our school children in Form One are not taught about Ronald Ross.

In literature, there is no sight of Lord Byron, Lord Tennyson nor John Masefield.

There are two poems, a ‘short story’ and a ‘ graphic novel’ about King Arthur ( just a little about his heroic, barely about the man. Reading the Wikipedia would have been better) for the classes now.

The first poem is telling of what is being taught:

“I am the ring from an empty Cola can the scrapings from an unwashed porridge pan the severed arm of last year’s Action Man …”

The poem “Sad I Ams” has three other stanzas, starting with: I am the envelope, I am the battery with no charge left, and a garden overgrown with weeds …

The team of authors of one of the workbooks commented the poem is about things neglected or discarded and are of no use to anyone and that it has a gloomy tone.

No disrespect to the good author who is a teacher and he writes and publishes short stories for children and young adults.

It is about our administrators picking and choosing what and how to teach our children today.

We would want to believe that humankind have advanced, that we are more clever today than all the generations before us. Globally, maybe. But in our country?

We have hoped that Sarawak will start anew. Sarawak has demanded and there were promises of autonomy in education to enable our children to compete with others globally.

As a Sarawakian, I know we are willing to shed tears and blow toiling breath to achieve what we have wished for.

But will the promise be a ring of the cola can? How do we ensure they are serious with what they have promised, for once?