Duty and Destiny

On Mon, 31 May 2004 16:49:33 GMT, "Troels Forchhammer"
<Troels.RemoveThis@ThisIsFake.invalid> wrote:

>> Not until this discussion have I realized what was meant by "Few have
>> gained such a victory." Thanks.
>
>It seems that we have more or less exhausted the potential in this
>discussion, and I would like to thank you - it has been very refreshing
>and enlightening - a great pleasure!

Indeed -- it has been a pleasure. Thank you!

>[Insularity and fear of strangers]
>
>> It's only in the legendarium of our own times that such an obstacle is
>> necessarily a bad thing.
>
>Possibly because we have now less opportunity for that kind of insular
>societies - in our part of the world, at least. In earlier times it
>served to preserve the society.

Many clever men ... have trusted to civilization. Many clever
Babylonians, many clever Egyptians, many clever men at the end
of Rome. Can you tell me, in a world that is flagrant with the
failures of civilization, what there is particularly immortal
about yours?
-- GK Chesterton, ''The Napoleon of Notting Hill.'

We're no different from people in earlier times in anything but toys
and acquired habits. When the circumstances arise, we or (more
likely) our descendants will very quickly recall much that had been
thought forgotten or rejected and will restore as many of mankind's
Hobbitons and Littletons as possible and then proclaim that they have
saved the world.

And they will be correct in that claim.

>> Perhaps it can be, as it blinds the individual to the actual
>> circumstances of his suffering, and as it tends to kill hope.
>
>I think that it might teach a valuable lesson provided one comes through.
>Only once one comes out 'on the other side' can something beneficial come
>of it.

Yes. And we all know now that anybody who is steeped (? pickled) in
self-pity should never ever be allowed anywhere near a volcanic vent,
or they won't come out at all. (g)

Barb