I suggest that we think of courtesy as a mean between rudeness and obsequiousness. The courteous are neither churls nor courtiers. This despite the etymology of 'courtesy.' (As a separate post could argue, there is no such thing as the true meaning of a word, and even if there were, etymology would not guide us to it.) To put it crudely, so that even a contemporary can get the point: the courteous neither show, nor kiss, ass.
Month: March 2010
Passion
Passion dies out in the old, but there is no credit in that. If your vices abandon you before you abandon them, you are no candidate for praise. The trick is for the young and the midstreamers to learn to control passion while there is time left to enjoy the passion-free state.
Wer Schreibt, Der Bleibt
I fondly recall my late German neighbor, Günter Scheer, from whom I learned this expression. "He who writes, remains."
Write on!
Race and Race
During my 26.2 mile trip from the Peralta trailhead to Apache Junction's Prospector Park, I had ample opportunity to observe the ethnic and social composition of my fellow marathoners. Only two blacks did I spy, an observation in illustration of a general truth: (American) blacks are not proportionally represented at running events. No, I am not hastily generalizing from this one observation. I am illustrating a general truth by giving an example. Generalization and illustration are distinct intellectual procedures. For corroboration of the general truth, see here. And don't tell me that I could observe only the runners that ran near me: I surveyed the whole field before the race began as I walked from the starting line to the back of the pack before the gun went off.
The tendency of liberals will be to conclude that 'racism' is at work, that blacks are being excluded, and will call for a government program to 'level the playing field' to use one of the sillier of their silly expressions. It apparently doesn't occur to these nimrods that certain sorts of people simply have no interest in certain sorts of things.
Here is a piece on U.S. runner demographics. Figures on race are conspicuous by their absence, a fact that reflects the political correctness of the age. There is nothing a liberal fears more than to be labeled a racist, and for a liberal, any mention of race makes one a racist.
Happiness . . .
. . . is nothing more than good health and a poor memory. (Adapted from Albert Schweitzer)