pessimist

Scottie Bowman (bowman@mail.indigo.ie)
Fri, 06 Feb 1998 20:34:20 +0000

	`...Yeah, really,' asks Malcolm. `What's so funny 'bout 
	peace, love and understanding?'

	There's certainly nothing funny about them.  Their tragedy is, 
	all too often, their futility.

	The Buddhist quietism that seems to underlie much of Salinger's 
	philosophy presents a difficulty for some of us who are still 
	haunted by the great lesson of the 1930s.  At that time, the horrors 
	of the first World War remained so vivid in the minds of ordinary 
	people & many politicians (who had themselves fought in it) that 
	almost any pacific compromise seemed preferable to a reptition of 
	them.  But while Britain & France crawled to Munich - & America 
	determinedly shut her eyes - much worse horrors were gathering.  

	That's the sad thing.  Love, understanding, good intentions, prayer, 
	self-sacrifice & so on - in many situations, they're no bloody use.

	Scottie B.