Human Disaster and "Human Scholars"

Anthony Shipman has one of the most eloquent and thoughtful pieces I've seen written on the human catastrophe we are all witnessing in the wake of hurricane Katrina. For Anthony, this disaster suggests something important about the kind of scholars we should be:

A "pure scholar" and a "human scholar" are similar, yet there are some key differences. A pure scholar tries to distance himself or herself from the wide range of emotions inherrant in the human expereince. A human scholar embraces those emotions, and learns from the joy, love, hate, suffering, and jubilation of humanity. A pure scholar speculates on the nature of such emotions. A human scholar experiences them. A pure scholar speculates about the nature of anguish, and sympathises with the suffering, but a pure scholar can NEVER know anguish or suffering. A human scholar lives through both, and is the better, stronger, and more knowledgeable as a result. Finally, though it is highly improbable and most likely impossible, I can't help but feel that if any of us were "human scholars" we wouldn't be in class come Tuesday. We would instead be on our way to Lousiana with a group from the Red Cross or the Salvation Army to help those in need.

Read the rest here.