“Comrades,” he said, “I trust that every animal here appreciates the sacrifice that Comrade Napoleon has made in taking this extra labour upon himself. Do not imagine, comrades, that leadership is a pleasure! On the contrary, it is a deep and heavy responsibility. No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?” George Orwell, Animal Farm
When I listened to this a couple of days ago, I chuckled wryly to myself, thinking of overbearing leaders and recent events in my native Canada. But after a conversation with my mama about some family concerns and a gentle reproof from her, I am now pondering the above in a more personal light, as a reminder to not overstep my bounds when counseling my older/adult children about decisions they are making. I can, sadly, have the Napoleonic tendency to try to manipulate things the way I think they should go, when I need to let them choose for themselves, even if they make the wrong decision (or just what I think is the wrong decision!).
On a more positive note, several good conversations in the past week, both with my mama and friends old and new help me appreciate even more this quote from Josef Pieper’s prescient little book, Abuse of Language, Abuse of Power. There are still people out there seeking to know and communicate the truth to each other, and I hope to be one of them. 🙂
“The natural habitat of truth is found in interpersonal communication. Truth lives in dialogue, in discussion, in conversation – it resides, therefore, in language, in the word. Consequently, the well-ordered human existence, including especially its social dimension, is essentially based on the well-ordered language employed. […]…a language is well-ordered when its words express reality with as little distortion and as little omission as possible.”
And I am reminded of one of my favorite Billy Joel songs…
Also read/listened to recently:
- Hubby: Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All by Michael Shellenberger
- Me: Book 4 of The Faeirie Queene – if you find Spenser intimidating, this audiobook is the way to go – the narrator is excellent!
- Miss A: reading the first book of The Belgariad: The Pawn of Prophecy to her fiancé
- Mr. D: a bit more of Les Misérables this break week – he needs to finish it!
- Mr. E: Dandelion Fire by N.D. Wilson
- Mr. L: Outlaws of Time: The Song of Glory and Ghost by N.D. Wilson
- Mr. R: The Boxcar Children (not the edition linked :P)
