Category: Quotes

A Quote

Delving two years back into my Google+ archives I found this, and would like to share it:

“We should have a clear notion of what chivalry is. It is a form of preferential treatment that men once accorded to women generations ago, inspired by the sense that there was something special about women, that they deserve added respect, and that not doing so was uncouth, cowardly and essentially despicable.”
~Pier Massimo Forni

It’s not quite an adequate summary, and I will add that such ‘treatment’ involves all actions of Mind as well as Body, but I saved it nonetheless.

‘Inspirational Quotes’

This evening, due to a certain level of pain or something else (I’ll leave you to construct circumstances with basically no information) I am leaving off the more serious thoughts which I planned to write, and instead looking at something which has always bothered me in a small way: So-called ‘Inspirational Quotes’.
That’s right, I’m putting aside St. John Bosco for a bit and ranting; to be honest this is mostly because Life at Present is leaving me little time for solid thinking due to Things and Otherwise.

Now don’t get me wrong, many of these provide some food for thought. It’s just that some ‘food’ isn’t worth eating over many other options, and the message behind SO MANY is plain L.A.M.E.

Let’s take a look at a few random ones that I came across:

Alright – No limits save those you place on your own thinking. So…if I think enough my capabilities will increase? If I think and believe that I can fly with shoelaces for wings, I’ll be able to?

When he says ‘accomplish’, does he mean ‘accomplish within the ordinary limits of human physiology and physics’?

Ok….what? Yes, if there’s an effect there is a cause. I’m not even sure how this would be inspirational.
“You sir, have a purpose. Knowing that is where you can start to achieve something.”
OK, let’s get a little bit realistic here. This is true…but you know, eventually the sun will set. Every day, in fact. You will get a horribly sunburned face and might go blind from having constant solar radiation contact. Your neck will become unbearably stiff and cramped between the hours of 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Ok. THIS is just blatantly false. The stars are seen at night because the light of the sun doesn’t swamp theirs’. HOWEVER, the stars shine 24/7, and are not dependent on the absence of light to produce light.
Yes, from all bad things, good is drawn, by the wisdom of God. No, evil is not necessary for good to exist, nor does the resultant good justify the bad actions, you Gnostic raggabrash.
Hm…..Anyone who has tried looking at the stars while walking down the sidewalk (particular readers have seen me try) knows that it’s asking for disaster.

There are hundreds more. I didn’t even get to the ‘Believe in Yourself’ and other really sappy ones.
And I know, a lot are meant to be taken figuratively. Sure, they can put a certain light on a situation. I just don’t get why so many make a huge deal about them when there is better stuff like this:

I was just kidding. Here we are, Don Bosco, talking about you a little. (Very Little)

He’s an excellent spiritual director. Just look up and reread that sentence.

Working well and being patient with others is mortification and a way to sanctity. It worked for Dominic Savio. He’s a saint now, largely because he listened to this good priest.

That’s all I really have time for tonight. Perhaps later on I will put my next poem on here along with Thoughts.

Pray for me!