Blessed are the Peacemakers

On Canada Day we drove to Kleinburg and the McMichael Gallery to see the exhibit of paintings by the late Indian poet, peace activist, and, near the end of his life, painter Rabindranath Tagore.


Tagore was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize for literature and he was greatly admired by leading British poets of his era (he died in 1941.) He was friends with Mohandes Gandhi and he wrote and spoke eloquently about ending war and promoting peace.


I have to admit that as a painter he seemed to be a fine poet, but it was good to learn more about this great man no one has heard about. The story of Tagore's life reminds me of what a Eurocentric view of history we have. It's likely that we don't know much about him because he was a colonial in the British Empire and not part of the Judeo-Christian worldview even though he was a peacemaker.

Have you heard of Tagore? Has anyone else seen the exhibit? The McMichael Gallery is always with the trip.