You know, the longer I live, the more clearly I see that half the trouble in this bally world is caused by the lighthearted and thoughtless way in which chappies dash off letters of introduction and hand them to other chappies to deliver to chappies of the third part. It's one of those things that make you wish you were living in the Stone Age. What I mean to say is, if a fellow in those days wanted to give anyone a letter of introduction, he had to spend a month or so carving it on a large-sized boulder, and the chances were that the other chappie got so sick of lugging the thing round in the hot sun that he dropped it after the first mile. But nowadays it's so easy to write letters of introduction that everybody does it without a second thought, with the result that some perfectly harmless cove like myself gets in the soup. - Bertie Wooster in "Inimitable Jeeves"
And so I enter the wonderful world of P.G. Wodehouse. And quickly become obsessed.
Now, we've decided that Baldrick thinks in a british accent and Peshewa in french. Don't think about this too much or you might realize that Clay and I have too much time on our hands in the evenings and consequently hold conversations speaking through our pet's accented "thoughts". It's actually quite entertaining; for us. The following quote is what comes to mind when Baldrick and Peshewa wrestle on the floor (Peshewa being the revolutionary french soldier and Baldrick being the englishman "Frou Frou" disguised as a french aristocrat....complicated plot, I suggest you watch "Nob and Nobility" in Blackadder season III). And Edmund would, naturally, be me attempting to maintain some sanity in our household.
Soldier: No, I won't. I am an [makes claw hands] "evil revolutionary," and have [slices finger across his neck] murdered the [pushes up his nose] ambassadeur, and turned him into [slaps the back and front of one hand against the other, then puts that same hand to his mouth] pate!
Edmund: Ah.
Soldier: [to Frou Frou] and you, aristo-pig, are trapped!!!
Frou Frou: Peeg? Hah! You will regret your insolence, revolutionary deug!
Solider: Dog? Hah! You will regret your arrogance, royalist snake!
Frou Frou: Sneag? Hah!
Edmund: [stepping in] Look, I'm very sorry to interrupt this very interesting discussion, but it really is none of my business, so I think I'll be on my way. Come on, Baldrick.
We'll end with the third quote, on a bit more of a serious note. A little late to spread the wisdom before the election but it's never to late to share a good quote just for the sake of it. We heard this in our sermon given by Pastor Turri last Sunday and I promptly came home and looked it up. Good stuff this:
Should we look to kings and princes to put right the inequalities between rich and poor? 
Should we require soldiers to come and seize the rich person's gold and distribute it among his destitute neighbors? Should we beg the emperor to impose a tax on the rich so great that it reduces them to the level of the poor and then to share the proceeds of that tax among everyone? Equality imposed by force would achieve nothing, and do much harm. Those who combined both cruel hearts and sharp minds would soon find ways of making themselves rich again. Worse still, the rich whose gold was taken away would feel bitter and resentful; while the poor who received the gold form the hands of soldiers would feel no gratitude, because no generosity would have prompted the gift. Far from bringing moral benefit to society, it would actually do moral harm. Material justice cannot be accomplished by compulsion, a change of heart will not follow. The only way to achieve true justice is to change people's hearts first--and then they will joyfully share their wealth.
-St. John the Golden Mouth
0 comments:
Post a Comment