Tea at Trianon: The Pillory

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

Sunday, June 4, 2017

The Pillory

The fact that the fall of two young people has become a national story and the young girl is being treated like another Hester Prynne is unspeakable. It is even more terrible that I see Catholics giving their approval to her public shame. We should not pillory people, especially young people. It is a matter for girl's family to handle. I am at a loss for words. It seems we always swing from one extreme to another in this country. From Fox News:

Eighteen-year-old Maddi Runkles is the center of a storm of controversy, because her Christian high school in Hagerstown, Maryland refuses to allow her to take part in commencement exercises on June 2. The reason: she is pregnant.

Pro-Life groups are blasting Heritage Academy officials for standing by their decision, they say Maddi should be congratulated for choosing life, and that their actions set a bad precedent since other teens in a similar predicament may simply opt to have an abortion.

David R. Hobbs, the school's principal says he is simply holding Maddi accountable for her actions, because she, and all Heritage Academy students, signed a pledge to abstain from sex outside of marriage, as well as staying away from alcohol and drugs. These are the two major reactions to the Runkles’ conundrum, each side basically accusing the other of not standing up for a greater value. But there’s another value that’s gone unnoticed in all of this. That’s the value that effects the child. I would like to focus on him or her for just a bit.

My hope is that this child will be brought up in a loving and healthy home with parents who love and adore this miracle bundle of life. (Read more.)