DINERO VERSUS BIENES (MONEY VERSUS GOODS, WENDELL BERRY (V), THE AMISH AND DONALD TRUMP (5-11-2024))

 

 

DINERO VERSUS BIENES (MONEY VERSUS GOODS, WENDELL BERRY (V), THE AMISH)

 

Nuestra economía en el aire se ha transformado en una caída mortal, y nos disponemos a traerla debajo. El problema es que todos estamos bajo ella, y así tenemos que traerla debajo con el menor sufrimiento posible para nuestra tierra y nuestra gente. No sé cómo puede hacerse, y me inclino a pensar que nadie lo sabe. No puedes confiadamente traer algo abajo si no supiste qué hacías cuando lo elevaste.

(WB)

And so: Might it not be that the displaced persons were needed by their families and their neighbors, not only for their economic assistance to the home place and household, but for their love and understanding, for their help and comfort in times of trouble? Of the Americans known to me, only the Amish have dealt with such questions openly and conscientiously as families, neighbors, and communities. The Ainish are Amish by choice. There is no requirement either to subscribe to the religion or to stay in the community. The Amish have their losses and their failures, as one would expect. At present some of their communities have become involved in the failure of the larger economy. But their families and communities nevertheless are held together by principle and by the deliberate rejection of economic and technological innovations that threaten them. With the Amish—as once with the rest of us—a family member or a neighbor is by definition needed, and is needed not according to any standard of usefulness or any ratio of cost and price, but according to the absolute standards of kindness, mutuality, and affection. Unlike the rest of us, the Amish have remembered that the best, most dependable, most kind safety net or social security or insurance is a coherent, neighborly, economically sound, local community.

MARTYRDOM OF "JOHN BROWN"

The sense of grand poetry, read by the light of this event, is brought out distinctly, like an invisible writing held to the fire

(The glories of our blood and state
Are shadows, not substantial things;
There is no armour against Fate;
Death lays his icy hand on kings:
Sceptre and Crown
Must tumble down,
And in the dust be equal made
With the poor crookèd scythe and spade.

Some men with swords may reap the field,
And plant fresh laurels where they kill:
But their strong nerves at last must yield;
They tame but one another still:
Early or late
They stoop to fate,
And must give up their murmuring breath
When they, pale captives, creep to death.

The garlands wither on your brow,
Then boast no more your mighty deeds!
Upon Death's purple altar now
See where the victor-victim bleeds.)
Your heads must come
To the cold tomb:
Only the actions of the just
Smell sweet and blossom in their dust.

(Martyrdom of John Brown, HDT)

The only government that I recognize,—and it matters not how few are at the head of it, or how small its army,—is that power that establishes justice in the land, never that which establishes injustice. What shall we think of a government to which all the truly brave and just men in the land are enemies, standing between it and those whom it oppresses? A government that pretends to be Christian and crucifies a million Christs every day!

(A plea for captain John Brown, HDT)

It is not every man who can be a Christian, even in a very moderate sense, whatever education you give him. It is a matter of constitution and temperament, after all. He may have to be born again many times. I have known many a man who pretended to be a Christian, in whom it was ridiculous, for he had no genius for it. It is not every man who can be a free man, even.

(…)

Look not to legislatures and churches for your guidance, nor to any soulless incorporated bodies, but to inspirited or inspired ones.

(The last days of John Brown?, HDT))