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Joke · Ajahn Brahm

Joke: the famous-quotations test

As told by Ajahn Brahm in Dealing with Fear | Ajahn Brahm | 25 Nov 2016

1 min read

Content note: political joke naming Donald Trump; plays on anti-Muslim prejudice

The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

in a school a high school in the United States on a Friday afternoon that teacher was doing a class in in ethics and English and their culture so she made the announcements in the high school I'm going to give a little examination a test on famous quotations and if you get the answer right you can leave school an hour early on Friday you don't have to come back till Monday that surprise so the first question class who said I have a dream and before she could go even to the next sentence armored in the back put his hand up and said that was Martin Luther King and the teacher said wow amazing little istan boy Ahmed very good correct you can go home and the next question is who said it's not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country and Yasmin in a hijab put her hand up and said that was JFK John F Kennedy Miss correct you can go home too and as she was opening the door for little Yasmine to go out this American kid in the back said bloody Muslims and the teacher turned around I said who said that and this American man said Donald Trump see you on Monday

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 0:45 (to 2:21)

A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

Ajahn Brahm opened a talk after a divisive election with a cheeky quotation joke to ease the room. Then he turned to the real subject: fear. Political news can whip a whole community into anxiety. Notice how far fear runs ahead of what has actually happened. Keep calm, and keep kind.

In brief (our summary)

An American high-school teacher offers to let anyone who identifies a famous quotation go home early. 'Who said "I have a dream"?' Ahmed answers Martin Luther King and goes home. 'Who said "Ask not what your country can do for you"?' Yasmin, in a hijab, answers JFK and goes too. As the door closes behind her a boy at the back mutters 'Bloody Muslims.' 'Who said that?' asks the teacher. 'Donald Trump — see you on Monday.'

Teaching point

Told to defuse a talk on fear after the 2016 US election.

When this story may help

  • political anxiety

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in Dealing with Fear | Ajahn Brahm | 25 Nov 2016 · 2016-11-25 · ▶ watch from 0:45 to 2:21 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Caption notes: YouTube auto-captions: unpunctuated, words left exactly as captioned. 'little istan boy' garbled (probably 'little Pakistani boy' or similar — as captioned); 'armored' = Ahmed; the JFK quotation is paraphrased as captioned.

The narrative is Ajahn Brahm's own telling, quoted from the talk captions. The summary and reflection are Being Mindful Stories's editorial notes. Please credit the teacher and link the original talk. Markdown version

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