Karey writes:
"...we are united as a nation [and we now have] common and
morally correct and life-affirming mission and purpose that we
don't have and can't find in every day life..."
Where have we been and where has our sense of moral purpose been
in recent days, months, years since the Gulf War during which an
average of 5000 people in Iraq have died as a result of the US
backed UN sanctions (Hartford Courant in a series in late
October, 2000).
And yes we are united -- sadly, behind a machine that relies on
violence to accomplish its purposes.
Al Pearson
----- Original Message -----
From: "Karey Perkins" <karey@CHARTER.NET>
To: <PERCY-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 7:54 PM
Subject: Re: Better than Monday morning?
> Percy wrote a LOT about our response (as humans) to
tragedy...and he (and
> his thoughts on this) came to my mind specifically and
immediately in the
> wake of today's tragedies. He brings up that we feel "good"
when tragedies
> happen. Bad of course, but also, he says, don't we feel just a
little bit
> "good"? We feel sad, we feel bad, but we feel "good" that we
feel sad and
> bad. That suddenly, in the midst of tragedy, in the midst of
> life-threatening events, our neuroses miraculously disappear
(just as in
> physical illness), life makes sense and has meaning, and then,
when things
> return to normal, our existential malaise returns.
>
> In the midst of this sorrow and tragedy, we are united as a
nation,
> "committed" as a normally and usually disparate group (but not
now!),
> towards the same end (whatever that might be...concern for
victims and loved
> ones, outrage at the wrong, desire for revenge...), and
suddenly our
> fragmented lives, (fragmented from ourselves and each other)
and mundane
> myopic self-absorbed everyday concerns are dwarfed by a common
and morally
> correct and life-affirming mission and purpose that we don't
have and can't
> find in every day life. It's a price that is too heavy for any
of us to
> choose too happen; yet when it does happen, this side effect,
this "symptom"
> to use a medical language Percy might have been comfortable
with, occurs.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Walker Percy Literary and Philosophic Topics
> [mailto:PERCY-L@listserv.lsu.edu]On Behalf Of
charles_almond_pearson
> Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 5:11 PM
> To: PERCY-L@listserv.lsu.edu
> Subject: Re: Better than Monday morning?
>
>
> Exception: if you're a mother shooing flies away from your
dying
> baby in the streets someplace in Iraq, where on average 5000
> people have been dying from UN sanctions since the end of the
> Gulf War, according to a series that ran in the Hartford
Courant
> last October.
>
> Don't mean to belittle your observation, Mark, but I felt the
US
> supported UN atrocity needs at least as much mention as
today's.
>
> Al Pearson
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tarallo, Mark" <Mark.Tarallo@BRIDGE.COM>
> To: <PERCY-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
> Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 5:49 PM
> Subject: Better than Monday morning?
>
>
> > Hello All,
> >
> > I certainly do not want to trivialize today's tragedy and
> deaths, and I
> > sincerely hope that none of you
> > have loved ones that were hurt, but I must say that, as a
> journalist based
> > in Washington who
> > had a busy day "working" the story (a disgusting phrase, I
> know), I must
> > confide that
> > running through my head throughout the workday was the Percy
> concept,
> > War is better tham Monday morning.
> >
> > This came to mind especially in trying to self-assess the
> spirit in which I
> > discussed today's events
> > with concerned friends and family members.
> >
> > It makes one wonder.
> >
> > --Mark
> >
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: David Alan Beck [SMTP:dabeck@IUPUI.EDU]
> > > Sent: Friday, July 13, 2001 11:17 PM
> > > To: PERCY-L@listserv.lsu.edu
> > > Subject: Re: Novelists now, in the spirit of Percy
> > >
> > > John,
> > > I agree that DeLillo fits somewhere in the spectrum.
Speaking
> of DD,
> > > has anyone had a chance to read the article in this month's
> Atlantic?
> > > There is an article that, for the most part, is arguing
that
> the
> > > contemporary authors who are so revered by critics and
> academics, are
> > > wearing the emperor's new clothes. He focuses on DeLillo,
> Cormac McCarthy,
> > > and Paul Auster. I haven't had time to read the entire
> article but did
> > > glance over it. I'll have to admit that, for me, blasting
> away at DeLillo,
> > > one of my favorite living writers, makes me regard him with
> suspicion.
> > > Though he does have a point about the stilted dialogue in
the
> works of
> > > these writers, a sin that no one can accuse Percy of. Yet,
in
> DeLillo, I
> > > always viewed the "flat" dialogue as part of the theme and
> overall effect
> > > of his works.
> > >
> > > Regardless, I look forward to reading the article (partly
due
> to a
> > > co-worker who bought the argument and challenged me to
> respond).
> > >
> > > David Beck
> > >
> > > "The only true joy on earth is to escape from the
> > > prison of our false self, and enter by love into union
> > > with the Life Who dwells and sings within the essence of
> > > every creature and in the core of our own souls."
> > >
> > > -Thomas Merton
> >
>
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