Pity those who can't hear the music

Thanks to the Coeur d'Alene School Board's decision Monday night to keep "Of Mice and Men" where it belongs - in the classroom - local high school students will continue to be better prepared not just for future academic challenges, but for life's challenges. Quite simply, they'll be more complete human beings.

People should feel no anger toward the grandparents who called for this literary work to be culled from the big boys and girls reading list. Nor should anger be the response next time any of mankind's masterpieces is pushed toward a chopping block or lit match. Those times will most certainly come, and in our view, they should always be met with vigorous rebuttal but with sadness, too.

Imagine the life that is impervious to laughing loudly or being moved to tears by great literature. Failing to get past "bad words" in "Of Mice and Men" is difficult to imagine. That's like listening to Beethoven and hearing noise, or gazing upon a Van Gogh and seeing imprecision.

John Steinbeck was a socialist. Ernest Hemingway committed a mortal sin. Any number of great authors, artists, composers and musicians do things, believe things and portray things that go against the grain of general society. But that does not diminish the value of their timeless contributions. In fact, their views and experiences help lift those contributions far above the mundane.

For most of us, classic literature, music and art is enriching even when it hurts, angers or saddens. It grows us intellectually, culturally and, yes, morally because it expands our understanding of and empathy for the human condition.

Now is a good time to extend that empathy to friends and neighbors uninspired by gifts like "Of Mice and Men," and to show appreciation for the educators who do.