From: Michael M. Butler (mmb@spies.com)
Date: Mon Feb 03 2003 - 14:09:37 MST
Damien Broderick wrote:
> gts quoted:
>
>
>> The function of man is to live, not to exist.
>> I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
>
>
> I shall.
>
> Damien Broderick
> [that might have made sense in Jack London's day; in the 21st century it's
> an abject surrender to do nothing under the guise of `not wasting your
> time']
>
>
Damien, I know that you analyze texts for a living, so please don't take this
as patronizing if I use fifty words where ten could serve.
Your interpretation is valid, and might have been all that he meant.
But consider an alternate reading: I shall not sit around in a little cave,
taking no chances and making no waves (and thus *doing nothing* in the other
sense), in the hope the Reaper will pass me by.
That might be a minor-key counterpoint in the music.
Dum vivimus, vivamus, and all that rot. Doesn't mean "don't take your shots"--
in either sense.
L&K,
MMB
Everything in moderation, even excess.
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