BS: Thought For the Day--May 12 03

Subject: BS: Thought For the Day--May 12 03
From: Amos
Date: 12 May 03 - 10:59 AM

HUMANITY

We must never permit the voice of humanity within us to be silenced.

It is man's sympathy with all creatures that first makes him truly a man.

                Albert Schweitzer

I suppose today Schweitzer would insert the politically correct "human", but back in his day, the word "man" described the species as well as the gender -- two different menaings.

What is of great interest is the ways in which the humanity within us gets silenced.

Back in the 1950's, an overlay of very synthetic social codes was painting American society a strange color of artificial, a sort of antimacassar, post-Victorian way of being. I hated it. One reason was the very point Schweitzer makes here. One of the great redeeming traits of John Kennedy (see Peter T's recent thread about Kennedy speaking on Rober Frost) was that he seemed to be willing to make a clarion call out of this very truth, and refuse to let his voice be silenced in that regard. Unfortunately, the choice was taken from him, which taught us all a lesson about optimism, and human compassion. It has its enemies, obviously. But the truth of Schweitzer's remark is only strengthened thereby.

Regards,

A

Subject: RE: BS: Thought For the Day--May 12 03
From: wysiwyg
Date: 12 May 03 - 11:27 AM

Another good one is, "He who blushes is not yet a brute." I wonder if blushing can be recaptured.

I think it's the inner voice of humanity speaking to ourselves at issue here.... and perhaps that it is the EAR of humanity we must not lose, to hear that voice from ourselves or any other source. In Kennedy's story, we can take a lesson there about choosing to hear or not hear while the voice is still ready, willing, and able to speak.

Sadder than a silenced voice is what happens when people are determined to ignore it, in favor of defending their right to be a complete idiot.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Thought For the Day--May 12 03
From: Amos
Date: 12 May 03 - 10:51 PM

Renew!

Subject: RE: BS: Thought For the Day--May 12 03
From: Little Hawk
Date: 12 May 03 - 11:35 PM

I could not agree more, Amos! Kennedy had courage...a whole lot of it...and that's why they killed him. The 50's was a period of philosophical and spiritual emptiness so cloying and soulless that it was no wonder everything went wild in the 60's. We were all Kennedy's children in a certain sense...he helped light the flame, and we tried our best to carry it. I'm still trying, by God, and I will keep on doing so until I die.

Humanity indeed! Human beings are the sons and daughters of a divine and holy purpose, a purpose that shines clear in all of Nature, and it will not be denied by the $ySStem...but it will be trampled upon, legislated against, tortured and condemned by the little minds that imagine Nature to be just a primitive thing they can exploit and use up while they play the game of being "successful".

"Beauty walks a razor's edge, someday I'll make it mine" - Bob Dylan

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: Thought For the Day--May 12 03
From: Wolfgang
Date: 13 May 03 - 05:24 AM

I suppose today Schweitzer would insert the politically correct "human"

No, he wouldn't. The citation is translated from German which already then had two different words for 'human being' and 'man' (50% of them). So he'd use exactly the same words now. But the translation might be different today.

A very great man he was, so great that his citations (and life) can be used and are used as role models for extremely opposite positions. The above citation is chiefly used by an extreme German animal rightist party which I personally consider crazy. But I also might have considered Schweitzer crazy and admired him at the same time.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: BS: Thought For the Day--May 12 03
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 13 May 03 - 07:01 AM

You wouldn't be the only one considering Schwietzer crazy - it's a sign of the times.

If today, a young woman went up to the monarch and said that God had told her to go fight the occupying forces, would that girl become
a) a national heroine and saviour of the people:
b) a saint, worshipped as a miracle worker by millions of people around the world:
c) a patient in the nearest mental health hospital, probably the secure unit....

It is a sad and bitter indictment that the voice of humanity is too often silenced by the human state of territory, personal wealth and material possession.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Thought For the Day--May 12 03
From: Peter T.
Date: 13 May 03 - 08:58 AM

d) burnt at the stake as a witch. Wait a minute -! yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: Thought For the Day--May 12 03
From: GUEST
Date: 13 May 03 - 09:52 AM

She would be embraced, sent to military school, and fast tracked to being a general.

Subject: RE: BS: Thought For the Day--May 12 03
From: GUEST
Date: 13 May 03 - 09:54 AM

oh, forgot to add "and you can get anything you want at Alices restaurant"

Subject: RE: BS: Thought For the Day--May 12 03
From: Amos
Date: 13 May 03 - 09:54 AM

Well, there aren't many places where we have Monarchs these days.

But you could probably persuade the President to hark to the vision thing.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Thought For the Day--May 12 03
From: *daylia*
Date: 13 May 03 - 09:54 AM

"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life -- Music and Cats." -- Albert Schweitzer

Meow!

Subject: RE: BS: Thought For the Day--May 12 03
From: Amos
Date: 13 May 03 - 10:22 AM

YEs but why is life so goddamn rich in miseries in the first place? That's what I want to know!! Talk about design flaws!!


A

Subject: RE: BS: Thought For the Day--May 12 03
From: *daylia*
Date: 13 May 03 - 11:01 AM

Ah Amos, y'know what the farmers have to spread on the fields before good things will grow in abundance.   Roll up yer windows and hold yer nose ... :>)

Subject: RE: BS: Thought For the Day--May 12 03
From: Doug_Remley
Date: 13 May 03 - 11:54 PM

In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is in an instution. In the land of the sighted we choose what we shall see, or in weakness allow others to choose.

Last Monday while waiting for my tires to be changed I read the papers while watching CNN and couldn't help but recognize the massive stresses these formats bring into so many lives. All was driven by sales of advertisement, probably, by reporting bad news in the "if it bleeds it leads" category.

There were no great thinkers in whom to find refuge. No JFK proclaiming a Peace Corps or the strides made by Habitats for Humanity. No Schweitzer's or Buddha's or Gandhi. If there were, they weren't reported!

Subject: RE: BS: Thought For the Day--May 12 03
From: Amos
Date: 14 May 03 - 12:00 AM

They are out there, Doug. Have hope. It is just that where the halls of journalism once were naturally served by those with an innate appetite for language and truth, they are now served by those with an innate appetite for sales and profits. So the news is not once it once was, if it ever was! :>)


A

Subject: RE: BS: Thought For the Day--May 12 03
From: *daylia*
Date: 14 May 03 - 11:22 AM

Speaking of the media's role in creating and perpetuating an atmosphere of fear, I watched Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine" yesterday. Chilling, informative, quite depressing. The story from Flint Michigan about the 6yr old shot to death in her classroom by another 6yr old had me in tears. I wish I could say I found it incredulous.

Oh, and by the way, after listening to Moore go on and on about Canada's wonderfully low murder rates and supposedly non-violent culture in "Bowling for Columbine", the first clip I heard on the news yesterday afternoon was about how the police had found the 10yr old girl who'd gone missing after walking a friend home in Toronto Monday night. Her dismembered body parts were in several garbage bags dumped beside a downtown river. No comment seems appropriate.   :>(

This is a 5 minute windowsmedia cartoon clip from Michael Moore called "A Brief History of the USA", focussing on gun laws, it's "culture of fear". It's worth a peek, I think.

I'd say "Enjoy!" but that seems a bit sarcastic.

daylia