Saturday, October 15, 2016

"They cannot conquer forever!" said Frodo



Lewis expressed a similar thought in his nonfiction, The Weight of Glory:

"A sick society must think much about politics, as a sick man must think much about his digestion; to ignore the subject may be fatal cowardice for one as for the other. But if either comes to regard it as the natural food of the mind—if either forgets that we think of such things only in order to be able to think of something else—then what was undertaken for the sake of health has become itself a new and deadly disease."



My strategy for surviving this nadir of politics has  been to keep the advice of a letter to the Philippians in mind:

Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Kahlil Gibran, too, is helpful:

“Yesterday we obeyed kings and bent our necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to truth, follow only beauty, and obey only love.”

They cannot conquer forever, as Sam said...the sun will shine again.


6 comments:

  1. I am watching things 'over there' more than a little open-mouthed from time to time but distance is a wonderful thing! Good luck to you all in November....

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  2. Well, at least we can assure ourselves that it's impossible to sink lower.

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  3. Well, I don't know. My sainted grandmother always used to say, "Things are never so bad they can't get worse."

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  4. I suppose there was that one election where part of the country decided it was so disgusted it would leave...but I don't think that will happen. Our idea of 'revolution' is gathering in parks, yelling about the establishment, destroying what's left of main street, and then leaving once they realize the porta potties are full.

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  5. Curmudgeonly cynic's thoughts: since so many depend upon the government for $$$ and lifestyle, the government is not likely to get smaller, become more efficient, behave ethically, or change for the better; in other words, no one wants to kill the geese (the wretched politicians) that lay the golden eggs.

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    1. I don't doubt that for a moment, but my hope is that as the government grows larger and more bungling, people will become so frustrated that they begin to look outside political system. Most people still default to believing that the problems are D.C's -- or their respective State's -- to solve...always crying for more legislation, more departments and offices, as if translating Will into Effect is so easy.

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