Sunday, September 12, 2004

Serious Wisdom from a Play

The following are quotes from a theatrical production David Hare's "Stuff Happens," now playing in Britain.

From the character Colin Powell, "If anyone is stupid enough to think this is payback time for whatever grudge they happen to be nursing against the U.S.--be it Kyoto or the Criminal Court or, I don't know, how they hate McDonald's--then what they'll be doing in effect is condemning Iraqi women and children to the sort of bombardment which is going to make them wish they had never been born. ... That's what I'm trying to avoid,"

And from an Iraqi character, "Iraq has been crucified. By Saddam's sins, by 10 years of sanctions, and then this," the man says. "Basically it's a story of a nation that failed in only one thing. But it's a big sin. It failed to take charge of itself. And that meant the worst person in the country took charge. Until this nation takes charge of itself, it will continue to suffer."

Check it out.

1 comment:

Madam_Author said...

"It failed to take charge of itself." It just goes to prove that *not* making a decision is sometimes just as dangerous as whatever decision you might make. I had a teacher in high school who said that in an election, not voting is the same as voting for the winner. Unless you take charge of your own existence and make your own decisions (whether this be applied to an individual or a country) someone else *will* and you might not like that decision. I'd rather not like a decision that *I* made than not like a decision that I let someone else make.