See the rat--at least it's got a hide,
but a man with no manners,
a man with no manners--
why doesn't he just die!
See the rat--at least it's got teeth,
but a man with no decorum,
a man with no decorum--
what's keeping him! why doesn't he die!
See the rat--at least it's got legs,
but a man without courtesy,
a man without courtesy,
why doesn't he hurry up and die!
--From the Book of Songs, trans. Burton Watson
2 comments:
I was thinking about the recent Papal Encyclical and the unity of love, and how various philosophers have compared the desire to act morally to sexual desire, and then I started reading the Analects, which made me want to read the Book of Songs, and I came across that poem and liked it, so I posted it. If I had known more about the hazing I think my opinion could be summed up pithily but not without obscenity. That is an appalling example of ingrained, institutional brutality.
That hazing story was hideous. It embarrasses me. the poem, however, was very uplifting. I admit I have often wished misery and damnation upon men who shove their way onto the subway train and then sit with their legs haging apart, taking up three seats, and then grunting and rolling their eyes when you request to sit in one of those seats.
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