"cjcampbell" wrote

Idiot. You have constructed a caricature of the "culture of
self-reliance"
by defining it a hermit lifestyle. That is a textbook strawman argument.

I am not your enemy, you know. I am sorry if you think I created a
caricature of self-reliance. If it will make you feel better, let me
offer "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley:

Well, at my age, poetry is one of the few things that can unfailingly seduce
me. BUT:

This:

I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

And this:

I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

seem logically inconsistant, no?

I love this poem. Ella Wheeler Wilcox put it this way:

There is no chance, no destiny, no fate,
Can circumvent or hinder or control
The firm resolve of a determined soul.

Good. But she forgot "money".

--------

Will you accept these as anthems, if not definitions, of the self
sufficient soul?

No. Close but.

Ran into this guy at dinner a couple weeks ago he sang it this way:

You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice.
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill
I will choose a path that's clear
I will choose free will.

(But the drummist wrote it.)

moo