Wong Kim HohSenior Writer
Jim Leach has a personal con-viction which has been therefrain
of many a sage: To un-derstand the present and thefuture, we have
to look tothe past.
The chairman of the UnitedStates National Endowment for
theHumanities (NEH) also believesthat nothing bridges the
past,present and future more than thestudy of the humanities.
Of all the disciplines, the hu-manities do the most to tap
intoand expand the imagination. Litera-ture, art, history, religion
and phi-losophy give meaning to conceptsof justice and goodness,
and shapeour sense of beauty, said Mr Leachin a keynote address
delivered inSingapore recently.
They allow us to put on theshoes of others in past ages and
dif-ferent contemporary circumstanc-es. They invite us to ask
questionsand seek answers.
He spoke at the latest SingaporeInternational Foundation
BetterWorld Forum, a series to promotethe exchange of insights,
perspec-tives and experiences between glo-bal thought leaders and
the Singa-pore community. Titled CulturalOutreach And Citizen
Diplomacy,the forum was attended by mem-bers of the artistic and
diplomaticcommunities, social entrepreneursas well as university
students.
In a pragmatic world ruled by sci-ence and technology, the
humani-ties are often given short shrift. Butthat, he believes, is
a grave mistake.
Every time there is an advancein science and technology,
human-istic questions come into play, hetells The Sunday Times in
an inter-view. It is impossible to talk aboutcloning and nuclear
technology,for example, without discussing at-tendant ethical and
humanistic is-sues.
A former Republican Congress-man appointed by the Obama
ad-ministration to head the NEH in
2009, Mr Leach views the humani-ties, in one sense, as having
every-thing to do with relations, man toman.
The most meaningful discov-ery in humanities studies is
thateverything is related to everythingelse, although we may not
know itat the time, he says. The chal-lenge is to discover and then
corre-late discoveries, the most impor-tant of which relate to
perspective values, methods of thinking anddoing rather than
fact.
History and storytelling helpmany people connect the dots
andbind the human experience. Histo-ry, he says, can be more
controver-sial than current events.
There can be clarity about cer-tain historical facts like names
anddates, but the whys and whereforesof events can be elusive. But
despitethat, one thing is clear: The deeperour understanding of the
past, thegreater our capacity to understandand cope with the
present andmould the future, he says.
The same can be said of litera-ture.
He mounted a stout defence ofliterature in his speech by
quotingthe works of great poets and writ-ers.
American poet Walt Whitmansgreatest dream, he said, was an
in-ternationality of poems and poetsbinding the lands of the earth
clos-er than all treaties and diplomacy.Russian novelist and
essayist Fyo-dor Dostoevsky said beauty willsave the world while
the Chinesesage Confucius wrote: When mu-sic and courtesy are
better under-stood and appreciated, there will beno war.
Mr Leach believes that a personwho understands his countrys
his-tory, political theory, jurispru-dence, art and literature is
morelikely to understand his country,his place and his national
values.
Similarly, a person who has asense of the world is more likely
tounderstand the thinking of othersand apply logic to challenges of
themoment.
How can we contain prejudice
and counter forces of hatred if wedont come to know more
abouteach other? he asks.
These are not casual concerns,but highly important issues in
aworld filled with tension and strife.It is relevant in the US,
embroiledin several wars against terrorism,and it is just as
relevant in Singa-pore where many are grapplingwith resentment over
issues includ-
ing immigration and foreign talent.
Singapore is not alone, hesays, when asked how Singapore-ans can
learn to cope with the is-sue. America has an analogous ten-sion,
Switzerland, Scandinavia, Ger-many and France too.
It is part of a bigger changesweeping the world.
The bigger change is not some-
one from another country cominghere. The bigger change is
occur-ring in the world. Change is acceler-ating and when change
accelerates,there is a natural discombobula-tion.
That would occur whetherthere is a single immigrant or
athousand. It implies more andmore are living in a greater worldand
it requires effort.
Learning how to accommodatechange is yet another reason whyhe
believes the hu-manities are impor-tant.
Mr Leach whowas teaching publicand international af-fairs at
Princeton be-fore his NEH ap-pointment saysthe humanities
arecritical to citizen-ship, national securi-ty, job creation
andmanaging and ex-panding the store ofhuman knowledge.
Literature, philos-ophy and history ex-pand the imagina-tion,
which hethinks is even moreimportant thanknowledge.
Einstein, he says,was not a first-ratemathematician buthe became
a greatphysicist because hehad such a fantasticimagination.
Ein-stein once saidknowledge is limit-ed, whereas imagina-tion
embraces the entire world.
In a highly competitive world, italso makes sense to embrace
histo-ry, literature, languages and philos-ophy subjects which lend
perspec-tive and stimulate creative think-ing.
How can individuals competein their own markets if they
dontwrite, think and communicate welland understand their own
cultureand its variety of subcultures, or
abroad if they dont understand for-eign languages, histories and
tradi-tions?
In fact, he believes societywould be short-changing itself if
itshort-changed the humanities.
Asked if the Internet has mud-died the waters of the
humanities,he replies: The race is on.
On the one hand, the Internethas the greatest capacity for
peopleto educate themselves in the world.On the other, you have two
types
of people thosewho will use the In-ternet to seek theviews of
people justlike themselves, andthose who want tosee a wider
horizon.The more open-minded you arewhen you look atthe Internet,
the bet-ter.
When he wasteaching, he used totell students whowere
conservative tofind a good liberalblog to read, andvice versa. What
isimportant, he says,is for people to seethe big picture.
The big pictureis the right thing tohave.
But Mr Leach isnot done yet. Thehumanities, he says,emphasise
thefourth R Reality after the three basicsof Reading, wRiting,and
aRithmetic.
Reality encompasses concern forthe human condition.
And that includes trying to un-derstand other people and
theirconcerns as empathetically and ascomprehensively as
possible.
When people try to understandeach other, conflict will be
reduced.
Im not saying it wont happen,but it will be reduced.
[email protected]
Jim Leach, 70, was picked byUnited States President BarackObama
to head the NationalEndowment for the Humanities(NEH) in 2009.
Set up in 1965, the NEH isthe largest funder ofhumanities
programmes in theUS and provides grants tocultural institutions
such asmuseums, archives, librariesand universities in the US.
Before this appointment, MrLeach was a professor atthe Woodrow
WilsonSchool at PrincetonUniversity andInterim Director ofthe
Institute ofPolitics and Lecturerat the John F. KennedySchool
ofGovernment at
Harvard University. Between1977 and 2007, he was aRepublican
member of the USHouse of Representatives. Hehas also served on the
board ofseveral public companies andnon-profit
organisations,including the CenturyFoundation and the
CarnegieEndowment for InternationalPeace.
The former state wrestlingchampion has a bachelors in
political science fromPrinceton Universityand a masters inSoviet
politics fromJohns HopkinsUniversity in the US.
He is married toan art historian andthey have two grown-
up children.
When a driver verbally or physically abuses a
traffic warden who has just served him a
parking offence notice, he crosses the line
of civilised behaviour into hooliganism.
There is simply no excuse for such
behaviour. There may be some urgent reason for parking
illegally on the road but strict enforcement of rules is
necessary because of the considerable inconvenience to
law-abiding road users and the risk of causing an accident.
Ignoring the rules is bad enough but road rage is
unpardonable. Assailants are bullies, picking on low-wage
people doing an honest days work. Traffic wardens, who
work around 12 hours a day, six days a week, deserve some
respect because they help to keep traffic moving smoothly.
Security firm Certis Cisco, which has about 250 traffic
wardens, all of whom act for the Urban Redevelopment
Authority and the Land Transport Authority, reports a
rising trend of verbal and physical abuse of the wardens.
The penalty for causing simple hurt is a fine of up to
$5,000 or two years jail. For grievous hurt, it is up to 10
years jail and/or caning and/or fine. To curb such
violence,offenders should be jailed. Society should not tolerate
thiskind of hooliganism. Such offenders deserve to be
shamedpublicly so that others will think twice.
The Housing Board has implemented the ElectronicParking System
at 255 of its 1,800 carparks. Although itsaid that parking wardens
are still required to patrol suchcarparks to ensure that errant
motorists do not parkillegally and cause obstruction, it conceded
that theirnumber is a lot smaller since there is obviously less
need fortheir services. HDB may want to consider
implementingelectronic parking at more carparks where it is
technicallyfeasible to do so. The BBC reported last week that
trafficwardens in the coastal Welsh city of Swansea have beenfitted
with body cameras to record evidence of verbal orphysical abuse by
irate motorists. Hopefully, Singapore willnot have to go so far to
ensure the safety of wardens.
ABOUT JIM LEACH
ST PHOTO:LIM WUI LIANG
Breeding civilityStudying thehumanities helpsto breed
civility.Civility mayencompassmanners but isdifferent frommanners.
Civilityis to respectsomeone else,and part of that isto
understandtheir backgroundand their world.A world withoutcivility
is a worldguaranteed tobe filled withtension.MR LEACH, on
theimportance of thehumanities
Literature, art, history, religionand philosophy give meaningto
concepts of justice andgoodness, says thought leader
[ EDITORIAL ]
Respect traffic wardens
Studyinghumanities willmake the worlda better place
40 thinkthesundaytimes September 30, 2012
