"Teachers and Mills"

      Meu post “Professores, moinhos e gigantes”, originalmente publicado neste blog em outubro, foi traduzido hoje, a quatro mãos, por mim e por minha mais nova parceira de blogsfera. Em breve traduzirei um dos posts escrito por ela. Devo dizer que os caminhos da tradução são oblíquos. Mas o maior objetivo  aqui é ensaiar - ou seria  ser feliz?

Guest blog by Silvia Pandini: "Teachers and Mills"
Translated from the Portuguese by Silvia Pandini and Carol Tulpar.

     The chaff-coated millstones of my childhood were powered by wind, water and circling oxen. These stones created miracles: rice grains were cleaned, corn and wheat were transformed into flour, and the smoked leaves of yerba mate became a delicious tea.

     As I moved out from the small farm of my childhood, I discovered larger mills and greater miracles. When Ney Matogrosso sang about how the north wind does not drive the mill, I began to wonder which of our efforts are pointless, which are necessary and productive, and which can bring us varied and unpredictable results. All are generated by the energy of the same wind.

     The most evocative mills are those of the imagination, and Cervantes is their most brilliant creator. Like Don Quixote tilting at the windmill giant, we see what we are willing, able and eager to see.

     The artist Rembrandt also painted mills of moving and unforgettable beauty that have remained forever engraved on my mind.

      In Brazil, we have a special day to celebrate teachers. Yet why should we need a special day to celebrate the daily joys of learning and discovery?

Here’s to those who plough the land, simultaneously teachers, mills, and giants. May they enjoy long and fruitful lives.