Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Menteurs


"Secondement qu'il me souvient moins des offences receuës, ainsi que disoit cet ancien. Il me faudroit un protocolle, comme Darius, pour n'oublier l'offense qu'il avoit receue des Atheniens, faisoit qu'un page à touts les coups qu'il se mettoit à table, luy vinst rechanter par trois fois à l'oreille, Sire, souvienne vous des Atheniens, et que les lieux et les livres que je revoy, me rient tousjours d'une fresche nouvelleté." (Montaigne, Les Menteurs)

(I find some consolation, also, in the reflection that I have, in the words of a certain ancient author, a short memory for the injuries I have received. Like Darius, I should need a prompter. Wishing not to forget the insult he had suffered from the Athenians, the Persian king made one of his pages come and repeat three times in his ear, each time he sat down to table: "Sire, remember the Athenians"; and it consoles me too that the places I revisit and the books I reread always smile upon me with the freshness of novelty.)

I think that "having a short memory" is one of the most important elements of Christ-like love. It is quite ugly and sad what happens to individuals who dwell on past offenses. They seem to always be the topic of discussion. I just read how a lady in Iraq killed 10 people as a suicide bomber to avenge her two sons' deaths. The pain she felt was surely great but how unfortunate is it to cause more pain because of it! Better yet, it would be best to not be offended in the first place; to assume that what people do is not mean-spirited, that they really don't mean it, or understand. As I like to think, being naive is sometimes good. It is not naivety though. It is "thinking no evil."

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