Here's a clip from a wonderful old film. I think most of it is online. I love all the phrases like "my dear child", "poor girl". [Alok, if you're reading this: it is possible to be a kid again..don't let all the pointy heads convince you otherwise !]
Als das Kind Kind war, erwachte es einmal in einem fremden Bett und jetzt immer wieder, erschienen ihm viele Menschen schön und jetzt nur noch im Glücksfall
anton and roxana, I will translate this for you...
When the child was a child, it awoke once in a strange bed, and now does so again and again. Many people, then, seemed beautiful, and now only a few do, by sheer luck.
~~~
Last month a bat came in through our window. I know this may sound slightly blasphemous but surely God made a mistake by creating such an ugly animal ? [Perisan proverb: God made only two mistakes: creating flies and arabs]. Anyway, called someone in to get rid of it/her.
Reverence for life and being, for otherness, is something which can be taught or suggested very early. 'Don't kill the poor spider, put him out in the garden'. Even the use of 'him' or 'her' instead of 'it' may help..
Last week, the chap who did that came to my office and asked me to phone his supervisor to say what a wonderful job he and his friend had done. And make sure you tell him you're a 'doctor'. I think they get an extra 200 Rs for getting a shabash (a 'well done'). An old man, whose hair has been dyed red to remind him of his youth, Sarwar sahib, with his childish, mischievous grin and a glint in his eyes was so endearing that I had to oblige.
The supervisor was terribly puzzled.
'No, I just wanted to say what an absolutely splendid job they did..no, it was above the call of duty,..no, it wasn't "nothing it all", why, it was nothing short of heroic. I think I overdid it a bit but hey, I've finally worked out that a Ph.D isn't completely useless!
7 comments:
Thank you for the film Billo - Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn are a wondrous combination.
Also thank you for the music below - am sure there are many good things not just those you selected for your friends.
Stay well
Beth
yeah, being kids again seems to be only way out to experience joy and happiness in this world. watching these old comedies is a nice lesson :)
alok, you know, by a strange quirk of fate as soon as i had written this i went to the library and picked up the TLS and the first thing I came across was a review of a book on immaturity in the modern world!
(I think Bauman would say: in a fluid world attachments don't make much sense).
But I think there are differences in childishness. one comes *after* the songs of experience, one before. One is an escape from the world, one is a return to it.
best,
b.
p.s we must continue this discussion on markets and ethics some time. I just gave a lecture on it (whence the infuriating number of references in my last comment on your blog). Sorry!
oh this is peter handke, this quote, no? it always makes me think of the movie, about those agels wandering around. i loved how caring they observed the people and just still sat beside them.
yah, that's it, anton.
hope you don't mind me joking with you like that?
I usually put in german quotes here and there- even though I can't read it- just to tease my sister in case she's reading.
Yes, I love that idea as well..attentiveness, a shoulder to lean on.
We have a similar idea..of an angel on our right and left hand side, recording good and bad deeds (or, if I remember correctly, one looking the other way when we do something wrong).
But what I liked best about the film is the idea that all this "attesting" is boring, that a return to the simple things in life is important.
And for me, the lines about the arrow still quivering reminded me of the allama's saying: I can still hear "Be and it shall Be" today.
anyway, i'm going back to sleep!
take care,
b.
no no, those were some great references. I looked up some of them on internet too. There's a lot to learn and I am slowly making my way through all these things. I used to think that the world would be nice place and life would be so simple and manageable if everything could be reduced to simple facts and theories... how wrong I was! Just another victim of one-dimensional technical education system and a shallow culture I guess :) I still find it hard to talk to my friends from similar backgrounds... you talk about ethics and they will ask for proof and empirical evidence!!
alok, that's very intersting. I have simialr discussions and there is always the idea that what I'm saying is 'vague' or ethics is ultimately about self-interest.
Earlier , I wrote this
You know, it would be really interesting to read how you've come to your views. I mean, you're someone who's so interested in literature and films that I find it strange that you should have been drawn to the 'technical-education-viewpoint'.
I don't say that as a criticism, I myself must have been drawn to something in it and I , along with my friends who have seen through the shallowness of the economic paradigm , often think of ourselves as "victims" . But I'm not sure I buy that.
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