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And now, from Dickinson to Bono to Confucius (as editor of "The Book of Songs"):
"Is there anything whereof it may be said, 'See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.'
"I would have gone to my lord in his need,
Have galloped there all the way,
But this is a matter concerns the State,
And I, being a woman, must stay.
"I watched them leaving the palace yard,
In carriage and robe of state.
I would have gone by the hills and the fords;
I know they will come too late.
"I may walk in the garden and gather
Lilies of mother-of-pearl.
I had a plan would have saved the State.
--But mine are the thoughts of a girl.
"The Elder Statesmen sit on the mats,
And wrangle through half the day,
A hundred plans they have drafted and dropped,
And mine was the only way."
--675 B.C., author unknown
As for another of our blind spots, how about the one that says anyone ought to be able to escape poverty through hard work?
David Fritz
Amityville, NY
:::posted by Fritz on 8/11/2004 03:01:51 PM
This morning a friend sent me this quote from Bono, of U2 fame, from a recent speech he made at UPenn. It echoes Emily Dickinson:
"So my question, I suppose, is: What's the big idea? What's your big idea? What are you willing to spend your moral capital, your intellectual capital, your cash, your sweat equity in pursuing? There's a truly great Irish poet - his name is Brendan Kennelly - and he has this epic poem called the Book of Judas, and there's a line in that poem that never leaves my mind. It says: "If you want to serve the age, betray it." What does that mean to betray the age? Well to me, betraying the age means exposing its conceits, its foibles, its phony moral certitudes. It means telling the secrets of the age and facing harsher truths.
"Every age has its massive moral blind spots. We might not see them, but our children will. Slavery was one of them. Segregation, there was another one.
"May 17, 2004. What are the ideas right now worth betraying? What are the lies we tell ourselves now? What are the blind spots of our age? It might be something simple.
"It might be something as simple as our deep down refusal to believe that every human life has equal worth. Could that be it? Could that be it? Each of you will probably have your own answer, but for me, that is it. And for me, the proving ground has been Africa. Africa makes a mockery of what we say, at least what I say, about equality and questions our pieties and our commitments because there's no way to look at what's happening over there and its effect on all of us and conclude that we actually consider Africans as our equals before God. There is no chance."
My friend that sent this to me is not a Christian, but she agrees with everything Bono is saying here. If she gets this - which is really at the heart of the gospel - but can't see it in Christians, what does that mean? Maybe Paul, echoing Isaiah and Ezekiel, has indicted all of us, all of our churches, who refuse in the name of a false unity, comfort, ignorance, fear, or even hate to incarnate the truth, justice, and mercy of the gospel of Jesus: "The name of God is blasphemed among the world because of you." (Romans 2:24)
Chad
:::posted by Chad on 8/04/2004 10:29:48 AM
The Divinest Sense
(Emily Dickinson)
Much madness is divinest sense
To a discerning eye;
Much sense the starkest madness.
’Tis the majority
In this, as all, prevails.
Assent, and you are sane;
Demur—you’re straightaway dangerous,
And handled with a chain.
peace -- Katie
:::posted by Katie on 8/03/2004 11:44:50 AM
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