Greetings,
While on retreat I missed commenting on the anniversary
of the birth and death of William Shakespeare on April 24. Because of our still trying to deal with the
aftermath of Roberta’s father’s death, we will have to postpone our celebration
for several weeks. For today I would
just share these words from Hamlet, Act. 1, scene 3:
There, my
blessings with thee!
And these few precepts in
thy memory
Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportioned
thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no
means vulgar;
The friends thou hast, and
their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul
with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm
with entertainment
Of each new-hatched,
unfledged comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel,
but, being in,
Bear ’t that the opposèd may
beware of thee.
Give every man thine ear,
but few thy voice;
Take each man’s censure, but
reserve thy judgement.
Costly thy habit as thy
purse can buy,
But not expressed in fancy;
rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft
proclaims the man,
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are most select and
generous, chief in that.
Neither a borrower, nor a
lender be;
For loan oft loses both
itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge
of husbandry.
This above all: to thine own
self be true,
And it must follow, as the
night the day,
Thou canst not then be false
to any man.
+ +
+ + +
+ + +
+ + +
+
And while not a direct response to these wonderful words
of advice, it seems to me that an appropriate response is one of my favorite
lines, also from Hamlet:
“Angels
and ministers of grace defend us.” (Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 4)
I have come to appreciate the line not simply as a plea
for defense, which is often needed against both the great evils which attack us
and against the great goods which would sometimes engulf us, but also as a
recognition that there are indeed times when we are the “ministers of grace”
who must defend those under attack from both those great evils and overwhelming
goods.
Yours & His,
DED
No comments:
Post a Comment