More than a Musical

This week's sumptuous Upper School musical production, The King and I, tells the story of Anna, a young woman from Wales who becomes the school teacher for the children of the King Monkut of Siam in the early 1860's.

The story is based on the autobiographical writings of Anna Leonowens, and there is some question as to its accuracy. But, whether Anna's experience is accurate or not, the story of colonial rule and the assimilation that it expected is well documented. Britain, through its military and economic power, brought many countries into its domain, and it expected the "savages" it ruled to conform to British law and culture once they became a part of the British "community."

As the play we watched this week unfolds, we find the King struggling to conform to the expectations of the dominate culture, while also trying to honor and promote the culture of his own people. Throughout the show his beliefs are regularly challenged by Anna, and the friendship between her and the King teeters on collapse in every scene. In the end, the King dies, unable to reconcile British ways of thinking with his own; the struggle is too much for him.

Each year, we offer enrollment to new students and their families at GDS. It would be good for all of us to take some time to reflect on how we would like to welcome them into our community. Do we expect them to give up their own cultures and heritage to conform to ours, or do we welcome them with the expectation that their rich histories will make a contribution to our community and will help us all to better understand one another? Do we believe that understanding and welcoming others will help to make us and our community a better place?

In the end, the British lost Siam because they believed that there was only one right way to do things and that its culture had little value. Let's not make the same mistake at GDS. Let's reach out with questioning minds and engage with all who seem a bit different than the mainstream and look for those things that will enrich our culture and broaden our understanding and compassion of ourselves and all who live in this world.

(More pics at http://gdsking.blogspot.com/)