Worth a Thousand Words: Library Lounge

Library Lounge, B2 Boutique Hotel Zurich (via BoingBoing)

The Limits of Human Charity

"'But, hang it all,' cried Mallow, 'you don't expect us to be able to pardon a vile thing like this?'

'No,' said the priest; 'but we have to be able to pardon it.'

He stood up abruptly and looked round at them.

'We have to touch such men, not with a barge pole, but with a benediction,' he said. 'We have to say the word that will save them from hell. We alone are left to deliver them from despair when your human charity deserts them. Go on your own primrose path pardoning all your favourite vices and being generous to your fashionable crimes; and leave us in the darkness, vampires of the night, to console those who really need consolation; who do things really indefensible, things that neither the world nor they themselves can defend; and none but a priest will pardon. Leave us with the men who commit the mean and revolting and real crimes; means as St. Peter when the cock crew, and yet the dawn came...'

'You say that you could not commit so base a crime. Could you confess so base a crime?'"

-G.K. Chesterton, The Chief Mourner of Marne

Roosevelt Island: Confrontational Reading

I rarely ever carry my camera with me, especially on long runs and hikes (too much looking through the lens instead of at what's in front of it), but I wish I had brought it along on my run this morning. On my trek over the river, I spent some time at the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial on the island. Flanking the central statue of Roosevelt himself are four giant stone panels with some of his most memorable words. A nice little hidden inspirational place. Below is an image of one of the panels. I have reproduced the text of the others below. I was so struck by the timeliness of Teddy's proverbs. Hardly anyone seems to favor 'righteousness over peace' anymore. Conservation, both in respect to natural resources and intellectual and cultural heritage, continues to have a reputation as a static, rather than dynamic activity. And the world, in various regions, seems unduly obsessed with 'order without liberty' and promoting 'liberty without order.' I just love how the bold and chiseled words confront and challenge the viewer so directly (each panel is probably taller than 20'). I think public sculpture plays a surprisingly important role in nurturing contemplation, especially when books are increasingly being sold and consumed as entertainment.

MANHOOD

A man's usefulness

depends upon his living up to

HIS IDEALS

in so far as he can

Our Bookish [Former] Papa

Head in the Sand...

Sisyphus, Titian

Goodness, it's been a while. But they say that a neglected blog is a sign of a full life, right? Among other things, the non-blogging adventures that have occupied the last month or so have included moving. Again. If you include the times I have changed residences within cities, I have moved eight times in the just-under three years since I finished college. To say that I am eager to settle down is an understatement. 

Among the things that preoccupy me far more than they should during the moving/settling in process is how much it disrupts reading. Notice how the thumbnail at the right has not moved since December. The whole planning-moving-post-moving process and its corresponding practicalities have siphoned off most of my reading time and energy, which is significant, considering my usual manner. One would think Lent would help to remedy this problem. But both slowing down and interior silence have been hard to come by recently. I spend my drive home nearly every day contemplating the large stack of delicious books sitting by my armchair at home, only to collapse into bed shortly after dinner, due to body, mind, and soul fatigue.

This hasn't been helped by the fact that I've had to trade my train ride for a car ride, which has really been a cramp in the daily reading time to which I'd been accustomed. Thankfully, I am slowly being rescued by Julie and Scott at A Good Story is Hard to Find. Listening on my commute is beginning to feel like riding home with lovable, bookish friends. I've enjoyed re-living books and stories I read ages ago, and being reminded of titles that have been long-buried in the depths of my reading list. I'm so glad they do movies too. I finally feel vindicated after all those years of burdening my movie-going friends and siblings with irrepressible post-credit analysis. I foresee that I'll soon be venturing into the exciting world of audiobooks.

Soon, I hope, I'll be able to stop dragging the boulder up the mountain and slide gleefully down the other side.