Officiously

[Don Quixote]

minerva sent this to me in response to one of my questions...what say you to this whether you be christian or other


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[TD="align: right"][SIZE=-1]AUTHOR:[/SIZE][/TD]
[TD]Arthur Hugh Clough (1819–61)[/TD]
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[TR]
[TD="align: right"][SIZE=-1]QUOTATION:[/SIZE][/TD]
[TD]Thou shalt have one God only; who
Would be at the expense of two?
No graven images may be
Worshipped, except the currency:
Swear not at all; for for thy curse
Thine enemy is none the worse:
At church on Sunday to attend
Will serve to keep the world thy friend:
Honour thy parents; that is, all
From whom advancement may befall:
Thou shalt not kill; but needst not strive
Officiously to keep alive:
Do not adultery commit;
Advantage rarely comes of it:
Thou shalt not steal; an empty feat,
When it’s so lucrative to cheat:
Bear not false witness: let the lie
Have time on its own wings to fly:
Thou shalt not covet; but tradition
Approves all forms of competition.

The sum of all is, thou shalt love,
If any body, God above:
At any rate shall never labour
More than thyself to love thy neighbour.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: right"][SIZE=-1]ATTRIBUTION:[/SIZE][/TD]
[TD][SIZE=-1]ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH,[/SIZE] “The Latest Decalogue,” The Poems of Arthur Hugh Clough, ed. A. L. P. Norrington, pp. 60–61 (1968).
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

 

[evince]

there are people who need you Don.



I say fight the dying of the light

 

[evince]

Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15377#sthash.E7GhoeJD.dpuf

 

[tekkychick]

Thou shalt not kill; but needst not strive
Officiously to keep alive:

Could mean many things; if saving one life means 20 others perish, it may not be the way to go. (Unless like in Galaxyquest the 20 have no last names so we know they are supposed to die....)

In a personal sense - As Evince quoted,

Do not go gentle into that good night,

However - "officious" to me is giving me pain and suffering at the end that won't prolong my life. Not giving me enough painkillers because they might be addictive (when I have only a few weeks to live). Removing me from my family to try something that hasn't been proven to work just because the doctor feels helpless.

But .. if there IS a chance that a few more months or a couple more years can be achieved - and that extra time is relatively pain-free and the mind is coherent - then fight!