>You know this is not the attitude of many traditional leftists from
>whom I have learned. Brecht, my earliest and more important teacher
>on left, felt a deep connection with Germany, his "pale Mother." He
>didn'r spare it for its crimes and follies, but he loved it and
>ultimately couldn't live anywhere else.
***** Understanding
I can hear you saying: He talks of America He understands nothing about it He has never been there. But believe you me You understand me perfectly well when I talk of America And the best thing about America is That we understand it.
An Assyrian tablet Is something you alone understand (A dead business of course) But should we not learn from people Who have understood how To make themselves understood? You, my dear sir No one understands But one understands New York. I tell you: These people understand what they are doing So they are understood.
(Bertolt Brecht, "Understanding" [1925-1928], _Poems, 1913-1956_, ed. John Willett, et al., NY: Routledge, 1976, p. 156) ***** -- Yoshie
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