Institutionalized
Lunacy
 

I am left with the thought that the prime struggle of life is the necessity some of us have to get others to accept our peculiar form of lunacy. In that we all become mini-Churchills, mini-Hitlers, mini-FDRs, mini-Stalins. (Some lunacies are more repugnant than others. They had the power of the state to help them in that endeavor. The rest of us are stuck with our charm, wit, and whatever other resources we can command, including, if necessary, occasional cruelties).

 

 

I am, from this, left with the conclusion that the saints are those who find no need to impose their lunatic systems on others, are merely content to live them quietly. Thus, I suspect the terror of old age is that not only we will be found out, but that we will be required --- even after we figure out the truth --- to continue to impose these systems on others (and on ourselves).

--- Rock Gardening in the Ukraine
Ignacio Schwartz