TIME ASSUAGES

It is always good to turn to Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) for some prescient words of advice. I offer this on hearing news of the death of actor David Carradine (1936-2009). What I find appalling are the trite and irresponsible comments offered over the internet, almost immediately after his death, making light of the man. The internet is full of such motley fools, mocking people and things they don't understand, believing that they know more than they actually do, and pretending to be wise, they make a great show of themselves to a world which they make more miserable.

David Carradine chose his own lifestyle, either for good or ill. He was a fair and accomplished actor, and through some of his personal interviews, one can detect a sense of humility about him that is not often found in his community. I do not believe that he was putting on a facade at a time when many people do so to enhance their image. Many of us will remember this actor in his most remembered role of the traveling monk in the old American West seeking wisdom. We may honestly ask what wisdom led this man to do what he did? But who are we to judge his last moments as some of these vituperative internet writers tend to gloat about? I find that this is more an occasion for regret, that a man of accomplishment should have found living to be so confining to have it end so soon.

There is one single, outstanding, perfect fact of life to carry with us. We are not here by chance, life is a gift. Practice conservation with it. Let it soak into you until you are controlled by the thought that you do not live a purposeless life, that you do have meaning and that it can be found. Carradine's death by his own hand, reminds us that we are all to search out our lives before we find that there is nothing more to live for. There is always more to live for, but there is not always much time should we squander it, for we are not granted time equally.

They say that "Time assuages"--
Time never did assuage--
An actual suffering strengthens
As Sinews do, with age---

Time is a Test of Trouble--
But not a Remedy--
If such it prove, it prove too
There was no Malady---

Emily Dickinson

Talking of the badness of the Government

I am unimpressed by the governments of the Western countries. These are the same governments that more often than not, hold themselves up to the rest of the world as a guiding light to be followed. I can think of no biblical injunctions that compel us to follow their example. In fact, I can think of no moral reason that persuades me to honor any outstanding figures among them above the meanest, foulmouthed blind beggars that haunt our streets.

If there is anyone that is "dark designing sordid ambitious vain proud arrogant and vindictive" it is these knaves who ruin our lives today. Being treacherous in private and hypocrites in public appears to be a whole new way of life for even the most well-meaning of modern government officials. If there are any for whom this is not so, let them speak up for themselves, not by what they say but what they do for the least of their countrymen and women--I might add--for all of the citizens equally. It is easy to say that one does so but not very easy in practice; isn't this right, little brothers and sisters?

It is not wrong, as many speakers, writers and other public officials would otherwise have us believe, that to hold current members of government up to the same light in which they hold others when they are in power, is somehow an offense against their dignity. We can find this attitude daily, in books, in broadcast news, on the internet, in the press, and over lunch counters throughout the land. When certain individuals gain a precarious hold on public power, they are more than offended when their motives are even slightly called into question. Even their strings of acid-penned columnists go overtime writing the worst tripe defending them that the world has ever seen. If there is nothing to be ashamed of then there is nothing to be offended by, unless one is confined by the trends of the day. I think we can all agree that their excuses becomes windy oratory. The only way to describe this phenomenon is in Menckenese: "It is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it...It is flap and doodle. It is balder and dash."

Neither is it wrong to be wholly contemptuous of their lies. No, it is a very, very good thing. To be tolerant of bad policy and bad public officials is gross negligence of one's duty as a citizen. Even their minor carelessness leads to reckless disregard of the truth and robs them after a time of even the most common form of self-respect. When self-respect is gone it cannot be hidden, and the people know it even if they cannot articulate the matter. Where is love "when the powerful systematically shift the nation's resources from the poor to the rich" by denouncing the rich in the name of the poor, and slyly acquire power to themselves? Power is often the road to riches. These are no sainted near-deities who would not dare to tell a lie. They pit the poor against the rich daily and it all begins with a fabrication, an invention, an untruth of one sort or another. If any nation was debauched by their government, it was first debauched by the press that took no notice. That is the situation in the West today.

I wholeheartedly concur with Samuel Pepys that "Talking of the badness of the Government, where nothing but wickedness, and wicked men and wicked women command..." is a pastime as old as history. This talking is alive and well and a very good thing even today. The governments of today, particularly the truly awful, uncomprehending bad people in them, have with their lips set fires in their communities which continuously burn out of control, making the "infinite great fire" of Samuel Pepys' London appear a wiener roast in comparison. For these fires burn in everybody's hearts and minds and no amount of water poured upon them can extinguish the flames. The talking of the badness of the government is going to go on and on and on. I should not think it otherwise in my lifetime. If I could for a short time condescend to a state of humility where I could speak well of them, it would be but for the shortest moment of my life. God help them.

Dom Giovanni
June 2, 2009