Please bear with me, folks, I woke up this morning with a bad attack of Blurry Face Syndrome. The doc's started me on pixel therapy.
Forgiveness for Dummies
Father O'Really Urges Sinners to Bury the Hatchet
Right, Forgiveness. You know, it was Martin Luther King, Jr., who said
Well, hi, Netty! (Netty Parker, ladies and gentlemen, in the front pew on my right.) Glad you and your grandkids could make it this morning, Netty. I thought you had given up on the church after that acrimonious meeting several years ago during which you got voted off the Council on Parish Planning. That was so unfortunate. I won't go into the petty details, but you might like to know that the architect of your ouster has herself been given the boot lately. What goes around comes around, huh, Netty? It's like Nietzsche says, Netty (Friedrich Nietzsche, Netty: the 19th-century German philosopher):
Clester Hewe was her name, as I recall, the Machiavel who got you tossed off the council. I forget what all the brouhaha was about. I think it had something to do with plans for the expanded church parking lot. She was pushing for a multi-level garage while you wanted to add a limited number of parking spaces in the field next to the picnic area. Right?
Which, that issue is still "in council" by the way, Netty, so you're welcome to drop by and make your case at the next open meeting of COPP, as we call it -- now that that scheming Clester is safely out of the way. Ha ha! O Bad Clester! Scheming Clester! Backstabbing Clester! (What kind of name is Clester, anyway? Clester Hewe? I mean, come on!)
Still, we must forgive -- for what does Ben Franklin say:
Or her. Right? Say, I hope Clester's not here this morning! I haven't seen her in months, but it would be just my luck to find out that she has been front and center during this entire prejudicial harangue! Oh, well: If so, I guess Clester will just have to forgive ME, huh -- much as I forgive her for her past unfairness with respect to you, Netty. (Nice Netty, Good Netty, WRONGED Netty.) For, remember this, O Clester (assuming for the moment that you're out there this morning):
So says no less a personage than Thomas Szasz, at any rate, author of that controversial tome entitled "The Myth of Mental Illness." Which, I'm not sure if I agree with that last proposition, however, according to which the wise never forget. For what does Henry Ward Beecher say?
So there, Tom. But let's not quibble: Thomas got it at least 2/3 right. Anyway, forgive me if I wrap up this sermon early, but -- Get it? Forgive me?
But I've got a dental appointment in T-minus 1 hour and counting. (Which, keep me in your prayers, gang!) But before I bolt for the door (as in "let me outta here!"), suppose I unload on you guys with a few surplus "forgiveness" quotes I compiled while researching today's sermon? I had hoped to seamlessly weave all these phrases into my thesis, but the unexpected appearance of Netty and company in the front pew distracted me.
(That's okay, Netty -- it's not ENTIRELY your fault. Ha ha! Oh, I am such a dawg!) Ahem. Right, forgiveness:
quoth Russian composer Igor Stravinsky.
Incidentally, did you know there was a riot when Igor's "The Rite of Spring" debuted in Paris in 1913? The audience, it seems, was taken aback by the evocative savagery of the dissonant music. These were morally staid times, you know. To do the crowd justice however, some of their protest was expressed rather wittily, as for example when the onstage Virgin began trembling in anticipation of her upcoming sacrifice, various onlookers were heard to shout:
"'Un docteur... un dentiste... deux docteurs...'
and so on. " (See Stravinsky - The Composer and His Works by Eric Walter White.)
But where was I? Hmm....
Meanwhile, all the gentlemen in tophats were busy "exchanging cards" with their neighbors in anticipation of avenging some real or perceived affront, several days hence, "on the field of honor"!
Oh, yes: While Gandhi, in his turn, advises us that:
Bingo! And finally, a forgiveness quote from George Bernard Shaw:
Wow! I'll have to think about that one for a while. Honestly, that George Bernard Shaw! (Nor were the ladies spared. Jean Cocteau, who was in attendance that night, overheard the Comtesse de Pourtales exclaim:
'This is the first time in sixty years that anyone has dared to make fun of me!'
Sounds like a concert after my own heart: I can picture the Three Stooges there throwing freshly baked coconut pies at the gape-jawed aristocracy.) And now, if you'll FORGIVE me, I'll be off. Oh, I almost forgot (talk about "forgive and forget!"):
Next meeting of the Council on Parish Planning, Sunday night at 8:00 in the second floor conference room. (Netty, this means you!)
Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a permanent attitude.
Well, hi, Netty! (Netty Parker, ladies and gentlemen, in the front pew on my right.) Glad you and your grandkids could make it this morning, Netty. I thought you had given up on the church after that acrimonious meeting several years ago during which you got voted off the Council on Parish Planning. That was so unfortunate. I won't go into the petty details, but you might like to know that the architect of your ouster has herself been given the boot lately. What goes around comes around, huh, Netty? It's like Nietzsche says, Netty (Friedrich Nietzsche, Netty: the 19th-century German philosopher):
If your friend does evil to you, say to him, 'I forgive you for what you did to me, but how can I forgive you for what you did -- to yourself?
Clester Hewe was her name, as I recall, the Machiavel who got you tossed off the council. I forget what all the brouhaha was about. I think it had something to do with plans for the expanded church parking lot. She was pushing for a multi-level garage while you wanted to add a limited number of parking spaces in the field next to the picnic area. Right?
Which, that issue is still "in council" by the way, Netty, so you're welcome to drop by and make your case at the next open meeting of COPP, as we call it -- now that that scheming Clester is safely out of the way. Ha ha! O Bad Clester! Scheming Clester! Backstabbing Clester! (What kind of name is Clester, anyway? Clester Hewe? I mean, come on!)
Still, we must forgive -- for what does Ben Franklin say:
Doing an Injury puts you below your Enemy; Revenging one makes you but even with him; Forgiving it sets you above him.
Or her. Right? Say, I hope Clester's not here this morning! I haven't seen her in months, but it would be just my luck to find out that she has been front and center during this entire prejudicial harangue! Oh, well: If so, I guess Clester will just have to forgive ME, huh -- much as I forgive her for her past unfairness with respect to you, Netty. (Nice Netty, Good Netty, WRONGED Netty.) For, remember this, O Clester (assuming for the moment that you're out there this morning):
The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but never forget.
So says no less a personage than Thomas Szasz, at any rate, author of that controversial tome entitled "The Myth of Mental Illness." Which, I'm not sure if I agree with that last proposition, however, according to which the wise never forget. For what does Henry Ward Beecher say?
I can forgive, but I cannot forget,' is only another way of saying, 'I will not forgive.'
So there, Tom. But let's not quibble: Thomas got it at least 2/3 right. Anyway, forgive me if I wrap up this sermon early, but -- Get it? Forgive me?
But I've got a dental appointment in T-minus 1 hour and counting. (Which, keep me in your prayers, gang!) But before I bolt for the door (as in "let me outta here!"), suppose I unload on you guys with a few surplus "forgiveness" quotes I compiled while researching today's sermon? I had hoped to seamlessly weave all these phrases into my thesis, but the unexpected appearance of Netty and company in the front pew distracted me.
(That's okay, Netty -- it's not ENTIRELY your fault. Ha ha! Oh, I am such a dawg!) Ahem. Right, forgiveness:
Sins cannot be undone, only forgiven
quoth Russian composer Igor Stravinsky.
Incidentally, did you know there was a riot when Igor's "The Rite of Spring" debuted in Paris in 1913? The audience, it seems, was taken aback by the evocative savagery of the dissonant music. These were morally staid times, you know. To do the crowd justice however, some of their protest was expressed rather wittily, as for example when the onstage Virgin began trembling in anticipation of her upcoming sacrifice, various onlookers were heard to shout:
"'Un docteur... un dentiste... deux docteurs...'
and so on. " (See Stravinsky - The Composer and His Works by Eric Walter White.)
But where was I? Hmm....
Meanwhile, all the gentlemen in tophats were busy "exchanging cards" with their neighbors in anticipation of avenging some real or perceived affront, several days hence, "on the field of honor"!
Oh, yes: While Gandhi, in his turn, advises us that:
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
Bingo! And finally, a forgiveness quote from George Bernard Shaw:
Youth, which is forgiven everything, forgives itself nothing: age, which forgives itself everything, is forgiven nothing.
Wow! I'll have to think about that one for a while. Honestly, that George Bernard Shaw! (Nor were the ladies spared. Jean Cocteau, who was in attendance that night, overheard the Comtesse de Pourtales exclaim:
'This is the first time in sixty years that anyone has dared to make fun of me!'
Sounds like a concert after my own heart: I can picture the Three Stooges there throwing freshly baked coconut pies at the gape-jawed aristocracy.) And now, if you'll FORGIVE me, I'll be off. Oh, I almost forgot (talk about "forgive and forget!"):
Next meeting of the Council on Parish Planning, Sunday night at 8:00 in the second floor conference room. (Netty, this means you!)
c.2010 Brian Quass, Alexandria, VA USA