Some years ago, we went to Brazil.  It was lovely walking the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema with their stunning views of Sugar Loaf Mountain - Pão de Açúcar to the locals - walking up to Corcovado and the statue of Christ the Redeemer, riding the antique trams through the Rio streets and drinking Caipirinhas on the beach. 

Once we had exhausted the pleasures of Rio, we went exploring elsewhere.  A trip to Iguazu was mandatory, and I think we were influenced in our decision to by the film The Mission which starred Robert de Niro and Jeremy Irons. And as we walked around that magnificent cataract with one wonderful cascade after another, I found myself perpetually humming The Mission theme tune.

Iguazu Falls, Brazil (Wikipedia)

Perhaps we should have headed to the Amazon, but distances in Brazil are huge and time was short. Only when we began planning our itinerary did we find out that the country was bigger than the contiguous United States – excluding Alaska and Hawaii and few smaller bits scattered elsewhere.  So travel times are long and sometimes arduous.  As is the case with travel anywhere, one's grasp of the local geography increases a thousand-fold when one has to find one’s way around in a new country. 

The point of this post however is not about wandering the beautiful beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema, nor is it about the size of the country, but something a little more subtle.  Not having enough time to get the Amazon, we went exploring elsewhere.  But somehow those explorations didn’t resonate with me.  Yes, there was a trip up to Belo Horizonte and amazing scenery, beautiful architecture and wonderful people.  But no visceral connection with things. 

Iguazu Falls, Brazil (Wikipedia)

I have often asked myself why was this the case.  And I think the answer goes something like this.  We are exposed to all sorts of stories and narratives which we integrate into our own consciousness and world picture.  For instance, to go to Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey and see the tombs of Chaucer, Browning and Dickens, was a deeply significant moment.  As indeed is the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior.   Wandering through the Himalayas and visiting Dharamsala and the monastery of the Dalai Lama was also a spiritual experience.  

Standing on the banks of the Tiber in Rome has the same effect – who would not be moved by the achievements of ancient Rome and her legacy? Florence has a similar effect when we consider the Renaissance and the influences of Galileo and Dante Alighieri, da Vinci and Michelangelo on our own lives.  

But in the case of Brazil I did not have a grasp of their history, nor an understanding of the landscape, nor the geology, and so we wandered through that country, through those towns, through those buildings, without any real connection or understanding of what we were looking at.

World War I Memorial outside Westminster Abbey (English Heritage)

So when we are teaching our kids, we need to build the framework first, and then we can hang everything we want onto that framework.  I remember learning about the Romans in the Fourth Grade, and then many years later standing on the banks of the Tiber, visiting the ruins of the Roman Forum, and laying my hands on the ancient stone blocks from which the Colosseum is built, and being moved by those experiences. 

We therefore have a duty to do the same with our young charges, so as they travel through time and space, they have a framework onto which to hang their experiences.  Sure, that framework may not be all encompassing, but it will be enough.  The Mission gave me a framework when I viewed the Iguazu Falls, and no doubt if I had gone into the Amazon, I would have had a framework too thanks to the ongoing flow of information that we have been exposed to about this wonderful place. 

It is an amazing thing to stand at a particular place and know that a major event in human history or Earth history happened right there.  Grateful too in some instances that times have changed and that shells are not flying overhead or a major earthquake is shaking the ground – which would make standing difficult in any case.

To conclude then, if we have a framework onto which we can hang our experiences, then it becomes an exciting place, with adventures around every corner as we seek out those places that add to the richness of our own stories and our own lives. 

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