Whenever I find myself at a standstill regarding a modern American issue such as the one Brad brought out in his article, I usually turn to history to compare and contrast. My favorite touchstone has been the quotations of “Mark Twain”, Samuel Clemens, who I consider one our country’s greatest social and political observers and who usually sheds a light on things even today.
On The Moral Sense:
“There is a moral sense and there is an immoral sense. History shows that the moral sense enables us to see morality and how to avoid it, and that the immoral sense enables us to perceive immorality and how to enjoy it.”
“Whenever I look at the other animals and realize that whatever they do is blameless and they can’t do wrong, I envy them the dignity of their estate, its purity and its loftiness, and recognise that the Moral Sense is a thoroughly disastrous thing.”
On Reform:
“That desire which is in us all to better other people’s condition by having them think as we think.”
“You can straighten a worm, but the crook is in him and only waiting.”
On Ideals:
“It is at our mother’s knee that we acquire our noblest and truest and highest ideals, but there is seldom any money in them.”
On Children:
“The proverb says that Providence protects children and idiots. This is really true. I know because I have tested it.”
On Affection:
“Praise is well, compliment is well, but affection–that is the last and final and most precious reward that any man can win, whether by character or achievement.”
I’m not sure if my selections cleared anything up particularly, but I would say this: I beleive that as long as there are affectionate parents, their children will turn out fine, no matter what the larger society imposes along the way. Very good article, Brad – thought provoking.
