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Sunday, April 30, 2023

Heritage imperative, or could have been


Take care this and thy own.
Rely on little that you can.
May small seeds each we've sown
bear fruit yes for women, and man.

No savior but me do I see
in this our nest all-messed.
So to myself I must ever be*
help to me and deserved rest.

Model thus, do so I say,
with this belated sight in hind.
Hope's my son his lasting ray.
Best I deem we now are kind.

_____
* To myself I must ever be? I am named after the fellow on the right, my father's (Des's) cousin Jack. I have been John Kevin. Would that I had been called Jack. I would have preferred it, although the results would have probably been the same.

UPDATE, 16.06.23

A philosopher-correspondent wrote that my name change to Fatty Jack was not warranted, nor did John have anything to do with the name Jack. (Fatty comes from a recent diagnosis of a fatty liver--too much beer in my youth, I figure.) I wrote back:

Yes, name is John from which Jack is derived.

From _The Importance of Being Earnest_ by Oscar Wilde

GWENDOLEN. Jack? . . . No, there is very little music in the name Jack, if any at all, indeed. It does not thrill. It produces absolutely no vibrations . . . I have known several Jacks, and they all, without exception, were more than usually plain. Besides, Jack is a notorious domesticity for John! And I pity any woman who is married to a man called John. She would probably never be allowed to know the entrancing pleasure of a single moment’s solitude. The only really safe name is Ernest.
Reading philosophy might be greatly rewarding, but is there any wit and humor in all that heady stuff?

No, give me a good play to read or attend, for that can stimulate the brain and well as the diaphragm--for it's the source of laughter.

Brain stimulation you ask? Note the pun with the name John and the image of a woman's husband always occupying the room with the toilet every time she wants to have a moment's peace.

There's your philosophy byte for the day. Now get back to what you are supposed to be doing. This is all fluff and worthy of delete.