Friday, August 13, 2010

Beatitudes #3



::Blessèd are the harmed
     For they shall not suffer the same harm again::



(Photo taken at the Philadelphia Museum of Art)

16 comments:

fairyhedgehog said...

If only that were so.

Erratic Thoughts said...

Nicely quoted!

I have been falling on my knees since I started walking, now they seem to go numb when they are bruised.
I wonder if its the same with my soul.On a second thought, I think it is!

Tabitha Bird said...

Oh Jason, if only that were true! :) I like the comment above me. I feel that way too.

Atrisa said...

That's the only way I live my life :)

Terse, absolute beauty.

Anonymous said...

Says who? I wonder.

the walking man said...

Referring to Einsteins well known definition of insanity I will just say there are many insane people in this world and the statement is not correct.

Anonymous said...

To all:

There's an old saying, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. You can substitute other verbs for fool (in this case, harm). This statement is a variation on that. Once you suffer a harm, you become a participant in your own future. You can choose to anticipate the harm or avoid it, but no matter what you do, you can't be blindsided again. Of course, there are situations when you are completely powerless, but this thought is directed at the vast majority of times when you are not powerless.

Mona said...

Once you get harmed by something, the next time you will always remember to avoid it!

Oddyoddyo13 said...

Whew. Thank goodness for that.

February Grace said...

You know, last night I typed the identical comment to fairyhedgehog-thought it posted don't know what I did wrong there.

I get what you're saying in your comments but yes I have to admit, just as fairyhedgehog, my automatic response to this on a gut level was: Would that it were so.

Very thought provoking indeed.

~bru

bekbek said...

Nothing is ever the same twice. If you suffer the same instance or type of harm a second time, it's possible you suffer even MORE, with the grief of the repetition... but it's still not the same. You also have the wisdom, maybe the wisdom of knowing you'll live through it, maybe the wisdom of knowing that somebody else might not, but the will, the passion that is humanity does. It gets harder to see this as we age, but if you look back on the heartbreaks of childhood or teenaged years, you know you've lived through "the same thing" twice, and yet its impact on you has changed. You may still cry, you may still briefly feel "it's the end of the WORLD!" but you know, fundamentally, it's not.

No. I agree with the quote.

awareness said...

Jason, you used the quote Dan Quayle buggered up years ago. :)

Harm provides insight and awareness.

You know what this reminds me of? The scene in the World According to Garp when he and his wife are out looking to buy a house. While they are looking at one in particular, a plane crashes into the side of it. Garp buys it right away because he knows it will never happen again. That part has always stayed with me.

Raj said...

thats like saying the dead need not fear death no more :)

SzélsőFa said...

i enjoy how many different thoughts this one quote stirres in different people.

Jade L Blackwater said...

Thanks for the day's serendipity Jason.

Anonymous said...

Fairyhedgehog and Tabitha, it's not that we won't be harmed again in any way, but that we can't experience it the same, and we might lessen or avoid it.

Erratic Thoughts, perhaps, yes. A hard learning process, but learning nonetheless.

Atrisa, it sounds like you choose to defend yourself.

Dbalehane, these are mine.

Walking Man, I like that definition of insanity. In a way, that's what I'm saying. Once harmed, you don't do the same thing again.

Mona, exactly!

Oddyoddyo13, next time you get hit, it will have different implications.

Bru, the key is that the future isn't necessarily more pleasant. It's different. And it does give you the power to make it better.

Bekbek, wow, you and I are on a similar wavelength. I completely agree with your thoughts. Thank you for sharing them!

Awareness, I forgot about that Dan Quayle debaucle! And I love that link to The World According to Garp. If a plane flew into the house again, he'd know better how to handle it.

Raj, death is one harm you don't get to experience a second time. ;)

Szelsofa, that's what I really like about these. So few words, but you can dig into them very deeply.

Jade, you're very welcome!