Bill Bartlett quoted Orwell, who wrote:
"Fear of the mob is a superstitious fear. It is based on the idea that there is some mysterious, fundamental difference between rich and poor, as though they were two different races, like Negroes and white men. But in reality there is no such difference. The mass of the rich and the poor are differentiated by their incomes and nothing else, and the average millionaire is only the average dishwasher dressed in a new suit. Change places, and handy dandy, which is the justice, which is the thief?"
This reminded me of a poem I came across some time ago, only 7 lines long, by the ancient poet Theognis, which has stayed with me:
Nothing destroys a good man quicker than poverty: not malarial fever, Kyrnos, nor old age. Better to hurl oneself into the abysmal sea or over a blunt cliff -- than be a victim of poverty. The poor man can do or say nothing worthwhile. Even his mouth is gagged.
(Tr. Willis Barnstone)
Brian
--
"At times one remains faithful to a cause only because its opponents do not cease to be insipid." - Friedrich Nietzsche
"Il etait enfin venu, le jour ou je fus un pourceau!" - Comte de Lautreamont, Les Chants de Maldoror, 4th Hymn, Strophe 6