bylm1-Bernie

I have recently been drawn back to C.S.Lewis and some of his writings. This is how he replied in 1948 when asked of how we should respond to the threat of living in the age of the atomic bomb:


In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. “How are we to live in an atomic age?” I am tempted to reply: “Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.”
In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.
This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.”
— “On Living in an Atomic Age” (1948) in Present Concerns: Journalistic Essays
Originally posted by Chet Gentry, M.D.

Carol Kelly

So very uplifting and so badly needed just now. We’re surrounded by evil, but just get on with it. Thank you both. You’re appreciated. I’ll try to remember these words in the days and weeks ahead.

Lonewolf

my god I agree with everything you posted and I thank you for it A 1ST

PZG1225 Loc: Florida

[quote=bylm1-Bernie]I have recently been drawn back to C.S.Lewis and some of his writings. This is how he replied in 1948 when asked of how we should respond to the threat of living in the age of the atomic bomb:


In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. “How are we to live in an atomic age?” I am tempted to reply: “Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.”
In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.
This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.”
— “On Living in an Atomic Age” (1948) in Present Concerns: Journalistic Essays
Originally posted by Chet Gentry,

I had read that quite a while back. Glad you posted. So timely!

Auntie Dee

[quote=PZG1225]

GREAT WORDS TO REMEMBER! The Media is attempting to make this whole virus a death sentence for the human race! The have a political agenda in doing so! Are we going to let the Media determine HOW we live our lives? Are we Sheeple or Thinking Americans?