delphipsmith | Entries tagged with auld lang syne

DON'T THINK OF IT AS DYING, said Death.
JUST THINK OF IT AS LEAVING EARLY TO AVOID THE RUSH.
-- Terry Pratchett, Good Omens

Sir Terry Pratchett, renowned fantasy author, dies aged 66
You will be missed...

“All right," said Susan. "I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable."

REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.

"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—"

YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.

"So we can believe the big ones?"

YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.

"They're not the same at all!"

YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET— Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.

"Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point—"

MY POINT EXACTLY.

-- Terry Pratchett, Hogfather

How am I? sorrowful

In his 1851 short story "What Christmas is as we Grow Older," Dickens says that the holiday is the time to "bear witness" to our parallel lives, our "old aspirations," "old projects," and "old loves." He says, "Welcome alike what has been, and what never was, and what we hope may be, to your shelter underneath the holly."

I like that idea, to accept and acknowledge the "never was": paths not walked, loves that didn't work out, actions not taken. "[F]or, who shall say that they are not our teachers"?

Read the full essay here. It's lovely.