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From this Middle-Aged Perch of Mine

From this, my middle-aged, a-ged, a-ged perch, with sore knees and aching limbs, I,  like many other forty-somethings, survey the rising tide of young and younger. Among these surging throngs of dilettantes, I see specimens of great energy and verve, boisterous urchins with cheery faces, unruly pups waiting impatiently to scale the heights, impish knaves and surly parvenus, itching to inhabit lofty perches recently vacated by other, older, aging drones, who resignedly shuffle along steadily toward the exit doors, clutching their canes, making haste for their rocking chairs. And of this new saucy bunch, with all their loud laughter and their wanton ways, with their mockery and their swagger, and their still-unproven aura of invincibility, I would like to say that I see great talent in the making. But fearful, lest by acknowledging their up-and-coming prowess, that I demean my own, I pause, I hesitate to commend in full. For such as these remember not the recent past, nor seek to relish any decade they have not lived through, nor do they hope to learn of any film or book or show or record or cultural artifact produced before the year 2001. And many scoff at literature in general. And many do make sport of their instructors. And some mistake noise for music, while others neglect the arts. And too many betake gadgetry for wisdom. And some disparage science, and some speak ill of algebra, and of my beloved geometry. And many others do not say "please" or "thank-you" and forget to say "excuse me" after a glaring faux-pas.  Do I over-generalize, ay faith, do I put on airs to paint with portly brush strokes grossly unfair and wide in swath and carriage? Very well then, perhaps I do. For lo, there shall come a time when these same up-and-comers will vie for privilege and status, and it shall come to pass that they (too) will wear business suits (or business jeans) and dawn gray hairs with matching age spots and shall be weighed down with girth and stooped posture themselves, and shall learn to grimace and grunt with worries and regrets. And behold, they shall in those (future) days look around them and say, "wherefore do these young hooligans and slackers speak ill of us in our settled habits, amid our bountiful accomplishments?" And with shaking fists and clattering jaws, they shall reek and rattle and call out to their elders, who by then shall be fishing in ponds near golf courses in Florida, and shall lament to them: "why did ye not warn of this, of time and of age, of mortality and taxes and of that deep, irreversible pain of forlorn nostalgia?" And it shall come to pass that one ancient, haggard-looking, elderly, retired, grumpy, introverted English teacher, gazing out upon his beloved Pacific ocean, and sporting a scraggly beard much like Captain Ahab in Melville's Moby Dick, shall then rise from his rocking chair, putting down his coffee mug in a huff, and shall laugh and chortle briefly, before saying to this brood of ungrateful ingrates, this smattering of discomfited, no-longer-young, turks: "ah but I did warn ye, and hast thou not read my blog?"

The "Minimal Standard"

I oftentimes wonder - doesn't everyone at some point - how much better this world would be if everyone out there could just maintain a minimal standard of virtue. I mean, when you think about it, how hard is it - really - for most people to refrain from extreme acts of violence, destruction and mayhem, or desist from needless hostility, rancor, animosity directed toward others or eschew scenarios of random cruelty, exploitation and oppression? The most pressing "thou shalt nots"  are pretty obvious aren't they? Don't murder, don't torture, don't enslave others- simple formula, right? So plan your day accordingly. Keep your clothes on; don't scare the horses. And oh, if you can, be kind to old people, children and stray animals. "Keep a clean nose, wash your clean clothes." It is just so amazingly straightforward. And while we're on the subject, is it so very difficult to go the extra mile and avoid getting one's hands wet with:  theft, larceny, embezzlement, forgery, fraud, kidnapping, extortion, harassment, stalking, vandalism, arson, perjury (in court, no less) - all felonies that come at a high price? Just imagine a world where everyone woke up and ran through their respective schedules and forgot to commit that single felonious act on their calendars. How transformative that would be! But let us concede before going any further - human nature being what it is - certain other habits of snobbery and pride, prejudice, envy, resentment, vanity and greed  (with even a modicum of lust and wrath thrown in for good measure) - will no doubt creep into the equation unawares, but that's a whole lot more acceptable than the more egregious and seemingly more popular crimes listed above that still (!) continue to blight our globe on a daily basis. On the bright side, I suppose, (so hard to invoke sometimes) we should be thankful for the "good people" out there  - whatever percentage of the population they happen to comprise  (5%, 17%, 24%?) - who are busy helping to keep the planet intact through their quotidian efforts, labors of love, acts of random kindness, duties of due care. Melville was haunted by the "mystery of iniquity" that led some people to become predators and destroyers of civility, but it seems equally puzzling how so many people (not enough, but still a goodly portion) are willing to persevere in that more difficult road of humility and sacrifice.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

I can see now why people get obsessed with this particular novel, notwithstanding the aura of mystery that continues to surround Emily Bronte. Something about the writing itself is so unique and affecting, the prose-style is seamlessly taut, visceral, vivid, specific, ever-so-tightly-crafted, balancing dialogue with memorable description, fusing character with setting, infusing atmosphere with emotional resonanace.

from Goethe's Faust, Part 1

"My friend, for us the alluring times of old 
Are like a book that’s sealed-up sevenfold. 
And what you call the Spirit of the Ages 
Is but the spirit of your learned sages, 
Whose mirror is a pitiful affair, 
Shunned by mankind after a single stare, 
A mouldy dustbin, or a lumber attic, 
Or at the most a blood-and-thunder play 
Stuffed full of wit sententious and pragmatic, 
Fit for the sawdust puppetry to say...
To understand -- and how is that defined?
Who dares to give that child its proper name?
The few of understanding, vision rare,
Who veiled not from the herd their hearts, but tried,
Poor generous fools, to lay their feelings bare,
Them have men always burnt and crucified." 
- from Goethe's Faust, Part 1 


(Let's give translator, Phillip Wayne, the lion's share of credit 
for making this sound so good in English.)

The Faust Legend

"Faust sits restlessly at his desk in his narrow Gothic study, surrounded by parchments, instruments, and bones, striving to grasp with their lifeless aid what the archangels could not grasp. A creature of cogitation, remote from human experience, he is the prisoner of the only environment he knows, that of the University. The most learned scholar alive has found all the University faculties wanting; above all theology, the Queen of the sciences, has failed to provide, as it claimed to do, the truth about this world and the next. He is without religious scruples and preoccupations which might have impeded his intellectual progress. Yet he is frustrated. Academic learning, to which this titan for study has devoted himself, is not only vain, it has withdrawn him from life, aged him prematurely, denied him honour and glory and earthly gain, and has caused him to misinform his students. There is a material side to Faust, and he has a nascent sense of social responsibility; he is not purely and simply an intellectual. It is a satire upon human learning that he has to ally himself with the devil in order to escape the consequences of learning and to experience the life which it has denied him; and of course it is the evil aspect of life that is accordingly presented to him. He has to discover by protracted error the positive meaning in human life that his trusting but misdirected efforts have hitherto hindered him from grasping." -  From Goethe's Faust: An Interpretation by Alexander Gillies

"Knowing that knowledge tricks us beyond measure,
That man’s conversion is beyond my reach,
Knowing the emptiness of what I teach.
Meanwhile I live in penury,
No worldly honour falls to me.
No dog would linger on like this!...

And so I turn to the abyss
Of necromancy, try if art
Can voice or power of spirits start,
To do me service and reveal
The things of Nature’s secret seal,
And save me from the weary dance
Of holding forth in ignorance." 

- from Goethe's Faust, Part 1

Words...Words...Words

Interesting Fact - William Shakespeare added over 1700 newly-coined words to the English language.  Among the bon mots currently in circulation, the following are culled from Romeo and Juliet:
abate * abhor * absolve * addle * adversity * agile * amble * ambuscade * 
amorous * anon *  antics * apothecary * asunder * atomies * augment * 
baleful * bandy * bauble * bawdy * bedeck * beguile * behoove * beshrew *
bier * bode * braggart * brawls * budge *  cankered * carrion * chaste * 
chide * choler/ic *churl * clout * conduit * conjure *consort * contagion * 
cot-quean *cull * dank * demesnes * descry * dexterity *direful * dirge * 
distill * distraught * dissemblers * doff * doleful * dote * dowdy *dram *
drivel * drowsy * ducats * dun * effeminate * entreat * fain * felon * fester * 
fickle * fleck * forfeit * forswear * gadding * garish *giddy * gory * 
gossamer * grubs * headstrong * haughty* heretic * idolatry * importune * impute * inauspicious * inexorable * jaunt * jocund * lineaments * livery *
loins * loll * loathsome *mammet * mandrakes *martial * matron * maw 
meddle * minions * minstrels * mire * morsel * musty * naught * nimble * nuptials *obsequies * paramour *passado* partisans * penury * pernicious * peppered *  pestilence * portly * poultice * presage * prate * presage * privy * prolix/ity * purge * quench * restorative *revels * rote * runagate * sallow * saucy * scourge *scurvy * sententious * sepulcher *slander * sojourn * solace * 
stint * stratagem * stealth * sunder * supple * tarry * tedious * tithe * thither
trencher * troth * trudge * unruly * unseemly *  unwieldy * vestal * vial * 
visage * waddle * wantons * wench * whit * wretch * wreak * zounds * [157+]