The DonoghueElementary School Winning Words Team Proudly Presents:

THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SOCRATES AND WANGARI MAATHAI

Featuring: Nia Lackland, Skylar McGuire, Taylor Robertson, and Kai Hawk

Narrator: Our story is set in a public forest preserve in Chicago. Wangari Maathai, the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of the Green Belt Movement, has been visiting the city to teach people about the importance of planting trees and taking care of the environment. She is very worried that she is not reaching enough young people with her message, and she goes for a walk in the forest preserve to think things over. Watching her, from Philosopher’s Heaven, are civil rights hero Martin Luther King, Jr. and one of the founders of western philosophy, Plato, who, it turns out, was actually a woman named Plena (history just got it wrong). Plena is telling MLK about how the philosophy she wrote about through the character of her teacher Socrates might help Wangari as she struggles with her problems.

Plena: Just look at poor Wangari Maathai, wandering alone in the forest worrying about how to teach people to care about the important things in life. She needs our help, MLK.

MLK: Yes, she does Plato, I mean Plena. Sorry about that—how could history have gotten you so wrong?

Plena: Well, that is a long story. Women’s equality, like racial equality, has not always been easy to achieve. And back when I was writing, in the 4th century BC, people just assumed that anyone writing philosophy was a man.

MLK: That was unfair!

Plena: Yes, very. I was lucky that Socrates, my teacher, was much more just and fair than most men at that time. But you were also treated unfairly.

MLK: Yes, and now Wangari Maathai, who is carrying on our work, is also struggling to fight injustice. She needs the benefit of our wisdom.

Plena: I always had my character, Socrates, explain that he only knew that he did not know much—that was his wisdom.

MLK: Well, a bit of humility never hurts. Look, Wangari is dozing off! Can you visit her in her dreams? Just pretend you are Socrates.

Narrator: Sitting down to rest by a giant cottonwood tree, Wangari dozes off and has a VERY STRANGE DREAM in which she is visited by SOCRATES, the founder of western philosophy.

Plena/Socrates: Dear Wangari, I am Socrates, here to tell you that must try to reason with people, get them to inquire about how they are choosing to live their lives by asking them questions about the meaning of justice, fairness, happiness and other important things. We must always keep searching for answers about how to live a good life.

Wangari: Socrates—say, you look strange—you are a great hero for all people who believe that it is important to think before you act, but I worry that young people today may not listen to reason often enough. And after all, you got in a lot of trouble for asking so many questions.

Plena/Socrates: Yes, that is true. People thought that I was corrupting young people by teaching them to question custom and authority. But I would not do anything differently—how can you live your own life if you do not know what you are doing? And lots of young people enjoyed listening to me question people …

Narrator: Suddenly, the loud buzz of a chainsaw wakes up Wangari, and she turns to see a woman cutting down the trees near her.

Wangari: What are you doing!!??

Logger: What does it look like? I am cutting down these trees!

Wangari: But you are not allowed to do that. This is a public park! Our trees are very important—they clean the air, provide shade and shelter, add beauty to our lives …

Logger: Hey, I was told to cut down these trees by my boss. We are going to drive a truck through here to dump some waste from our chemical plant.

Wangari: But you can’t dump the waste here! Please listen and try to think about this in a reasonable way. This is a public space, and that means that you don’t have the right to pollute it. This forest is common property, to be used equally by all citizens. Also, there is a river close by. If you dump chemical waste here, it is likely to go into the river. And that could cause lots of pollution, harming plants and animals and people. Are you the kind of person who would harm lots of innocent people?

Logger: I don’t want to be, but I’ve got a job to do. I have to do what my boss says, even if it is illegal and unfair. And we are bringing the waste here tomorrow morning, so you had better get out of here. You can call the police if you want, but then we will just dump this stuff some other place when they are not looking.

Wangari: Do you know what you are doing? What would you say to your children, if they asked you why you were doing something that was illegal and unfair?

Logger: Well, I don’t know. You are asking a lot of tough questions! I do not want to talk to you anymore—just get out of here, okay?

Narrator: Wangari is now even more worried. She sits down to think and is soon completely lost in a day dream in which she is visited by her hero Martin Luther King, Jr.

MLK: Wangari, Wangari—listen to me. Socrates (who was actually Plato, or rather, a woman named Plena—never mind, long story) was right about the importance of reason and conversing with people to help figure out how to live. But he did not tell you everything—he always has more questions than answers.

Wangari: Yes, I tried to reason with that person cutting down the trees, but she just got mad.

MLK: Have you consider my path? That is the path of non-violent resistance—direct nonviolent action on behalf of justice. That was what we did in the civil rights movement, when we were inspired by Gandhi. Even the law was sometimes unjust, but we always behaved justly and with understanding and love for all.

Wangari: Well, you are a very tough act to follow! It is very hard not to get mad at the people who treat you badly and who have no respect for people or the planet.

MLK: Yes, it can be very hard—but love is a very strong force, and if you want the world to change, you need to change people’s hearts as well as their minds. If that logger won’t listen to your reasons, try my approach, and when she sees your conviction and commitment, maybe she will come over to your side. There is no guarantee, but it might work. And love is the only way.

Narrator: Wangari is startled out of her daydream by the logger, who has already returned with the truck full of toxic waste.

Logger: I told you to get out of here. I came back early, just in case you were going to call the police and give us a hard time. You had better move it!

Wangari: I am not going to move. I am going to practice non-violent resistance, just the way Martin Luther King, Jr. did.

Logger: So, are you looking for a fight?

Wangari: No, I am not going to fight. I am joined here by the ghosts of the philosopher Socrates and the civil rights hero Martin Luther King, Jr. We are going to resist you using non-violence.

Narrator: Wangari holds out here hands, and the two ghostly figures join her to form a line blocking the truck.

MLK: We will not be moved.

Plena/Socrates: I refused to flee my home city of Athens, even when faced with death, and I refuse to flee now.

Logger: Well, I’m not sure what harm I can do to ghosts—are you sure that is Socrates?—but you, lady, I don’t want to hurt you. Are you really willing to risk your own safety to save this forest?

Wangari: Yes.

Logger: But don’t you understand that I have a job to do?

MLK and Plena/Socrates: We used to hear that all the time, but we stood up for justice and now we are the ones celebrated in history.

Wangari: Yes, I am very sorry about your job. But it is wrong that you should have to do something unjust and illegal for it, and we need people like you to help change problems like that.

Logger: You need me?

Wangari: Yes, we only have one world, and we all need to work together for the future we want.

Logger: Can we really work together?

Wangari, MLK, and Plena/Socrates: Yes We Can!