“Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.” Alarms and Discursions (1910)
One might add on High Schools, as well. Localism is one of the key dimensions of a Chestertonian worldview—you live somewhere, part of a neighborhood, a network, a community: besides the parish and the town hall, what institution could be more important than the local high school, or regional one, which unites several towns? You probably remember your local high school, for better or worse: your life then and there makes you an alumnus or alumnae of a particular alma mater. We know to call ‘homeless’ a man without a home, but what should we call a man without an alma mater? An educational orphan? Do you have a reason to love your alma mater? Would you wear her colors proudly?
Aren’t these observations true in the greater Worcester world? You need just flash the colors and mascot of your high school (I wear the Red and White Pioneer of St. John’s High, where I teach) and you’re back in the realm of medieval heraldry, of the pageantry of Renaissance city states, enacting a sartorial symbolism which both connects you with your own tribe and alienates you from the surrounding principalities. “Go Pioneers!...Go Naps!... Go Guardians!…Gaels!….Colonials!…Polar Bears!” As surely as the fleur-de-lis upon Henry the Fifth’s chest, ‘Prince Hal’ today is wearing the garb of his own home country, his High School. And while the young men of SJ go home to their many hometowns, could we rightly say that the strength of a town or community is reflected in how many Varsity Letters, jackets and caps are worn with pride by the students outside of their school? Will an adult in Leominster sport a Blue Devils logo? Could he be seen in public being friendly with someone wearing the Fitchburg red?
Dare we hope for a chivalrous devotion to our own logos, while being hospitable towards those from the ‘enemy’? As Chesterton said of the various contradictories which Christendom sustained in paradoxical harmony, they abide “side by side like two strong colours, red and white, like the red and white upon the shield of St. George” So, the next time you see me at Fitton Field, cheering on the Pioneers at the annual Thanksgiving Day game, wearing the red and the white, say hello, whether you’re wearing the purple Guardian of St. Peter Marian, or the logos of other alma maters. Chesterton certainly believed our friendship was possible, despite, or perhaps because of our local loyalties. Why can we do so? God, Our Father, gave us the Reason.
One might add on High Schools, as well. Localism is one of the key dimensions of a Chestertonian worldview—you live somewhere, part of a neighborhood, a network, a community: besides the parish and the town hall, what institution could be more important than the local high school, or regional one, which unites several towns? You probably remember your local high school, for better or worse: your life then and there makes you an alumnus or alumnae of a particular alma mater. We know to call ‘homeless’ a man without a home, but what should we call a man without an alma mater? An educational orphan? Do you have a reason to love your alma mater? Would you wear her colors proudly?
Aren’t these observations true in the greater Worcester world? You need just flash the colors and mascot of your high school (I wear the Red and White Pioneer of St. John’s High, where I teach) and you’re back in the realm of medieval heraldry, of the pageantry of Renaissance city states, enacting a sartorial symbolism which both connects you with your own tribe and alienates you from the surrounding principalities. “Go Pioneers!...Go Naps!... Go Guardians!…Gaels!….Colonials!…Polar Bears!” As surely as the fleur-de-lis upon Henry the Fifth’s chest, ‘Prince Hal’ today is wearing the garb of his own home country, his High School. And while the young men of SJ go home to their many hometowns, could we rightly say that the strength of a town or community is reflected in how many Varsity Letters, jackets and caps are worn with pride by the students outside of their school? Will an adult in Leominster sport a Blue Devils logo? Could he be seen in public being friendly with someone wearing the Fitchburg red?
Dare we hope for a chivalrous devotion to our own logos, while being hospitable towards those from the ‘enemy’? As Chesterton said of the various contradictories which Christendom sustained in paradoxical harmony, they abide “side by side like two strong colours, red and white, like the red and white upon the shield of St. George” So, the next time you see me at Fitton Field, cheering on the Pioneers at the annual Thanksgiving Day game, wearing the red and the white, say hello, whether you’re wearing the purple Guardian of St. Peter Marian, or the logos of other alma maters. Chesterton certainly believed our friendship was possible, despite, or perhaps because of our local loyalties. Why can we do so? God, Our Father, gave us the Reason.
Click on the image below to see Mike's poem 'The Reason':
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