SON OF HARRY HOPE
2006-09-11 19:48:44 UTC
"The five-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks
has produced a peculiar concern---whether rescuers used proper
language in the midst of mind-numbing horror and chaos. Apparently,
firefighters were prompted to use profanity, a fact that some
Americans now find too offensive for prime time... Usually, I'm
in favor of strict enforcement of decency standards... However,
there's a clear difference between gratuitous profanity contrived
by unimaginative writers and the spontaneous language of
real-life horror... Can anyone really imagine seeing what those
firefighters saw---first one plane, then another---and saying,
'Goodness gracious, what rare deed is this?' When 'What the----'
more accurately captures the moment? Here's a new word to teach
the kiddies: verisimilitude. That is, depicting realism, or having
the appearance of truth. In real life, people seeing others plunge
100 stories are going to say things they wouldn't customarily
say... [In] Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3... the Bible instructs that
to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose. 'A
time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to
dance... a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.' Had the
chapter been written in today's post-9/11 world, its author might
have considered an amendment: 'a time to watch one's words, and
a time to cuss like a first responder at Ground Zero, Sept. 11,
2001, New York, New York." ---Kathleen Parker
====================================================
"Anyone can carry his burden, however hard, until nightfall. Anyone
can do his work, however hard, for one day. Anyone can live sweetly,
patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun goes down. And this is all
life really means."
--Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish novelist, poet
has produced a peculiar concern---whether rescuers used proper
language in the midst of mind-numbing horror and chaos. Apparently,
firefighters were prompted to use profanity, a fact that some
Americans now find too offensive for prime time... Usually, I'm
in favor of strict enforcement of decency standards... However,
there's a clear difference between gratuitous profanity contrived
by unimaginative writers and the spontaneous language of
real-life horror... Can anyone really imagine seeing what those
firefighters saw---first one plane, then another---and saying,
'Goodness gracious, what rare deed is this?' When 'What the----'
more accurately captures the moment? Here's a new word to teach
the kiddies: verisimilitude. That is, depicting realism, or having
the appearance of truth. In real life, people seeing others plunge
100 stories are going to say things they wouldn't customarily
say... [In] Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3... the Bible instructs that
to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose. 'A
time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to
dance... a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.' Had the
chapter been written in today's post-9/11 world, its author might
have considered an amendment: 'a time to watch one's words, and
a time to cuss like a first responder at Ground Zero, Sept. 11,
2001, New York, New York." ---Kathleen Parker
====================================================
"Anyone can carry his burden, however hard, until nightfall. Anyone
can do his work, however hard, for one day. Anyone can live sweetly,
patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun goes down. And this is all
life really means."
--Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish novelist, poet