Tea at Trianon: Overcoming Fear

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Overcoming Fear

Let us help each other not to be anxious about the future.

If anything, the current economic crisis underscores just how interconnected we all are. We all need each other to keep the economic engine going. So, while it is foolish to spend outside one’s means. It is necessary that we do continue to spend and share the wealth that we do have. We shouldn’t hoard our money. The only way to fight the fear that is so prevalent is if we all work together against it and refuse to let it define us. We need to follow the Biblical injunction to hand over our fear to the Lord. We need to trust that, somehow, things will get better. And, we need to continue to share the monetary resources that we do have with others. We can’t let the fear win. Reacting out of fear will only make the problem worse.

Lucy said...: Yes...concentrating on fear detracts you from hope and trust that things will get better. How pompous for us to think that everything is totally in our control. Thanks Elena.; January 20, 2009 at 9:09:00 AM EST
Kyle Cupp said...: Wise words. Without a spirit of courageous generosity informing our economic choices, no market solutions or government programs will cure our economic woes.; January 20, 2009 at 10:00:00 AM EST