I must admit that the quote that follows, or the accuracy of the quote, has me stumped. To make sense of my confusion, I must take us all the way back to a particular grade school and a very special teacher.
I remember back to my 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Kool. We had just moved to Wright Patterson Air Force Bace, from, I believe, Fort Cambell, Kentucky.This move and this new school would have the same pattern as all of my schooling until High School. We were the consumate Army Brats. Something, I would never change. Sure, I spent a lot of time in Summer School, working to catch up what I had missed at the beginning of the school year, or, catching up on what I missed at the end of the school year, for we were moving yet again.
I say this with such a strong conviction of my beliefs: I just loved moving and meeting new people, living in different countries and many states. That made for many friends. Now, on the subject of friends, I would soon learn, when I entered the 10th Grade, the beginning of high school, in the state my parents felt it was time to find and settle a home, our home. I do know that out of the four of us children, I was the one who protested the loudest about the decision to stop moving. To be truthful, I was the only one begging that my father change his mind. But, no, he would not take my sister out of high school. That was one thing that he always knew would become a fact, a self-promise, which he kept.
Now, that I have taken you away from the quote I wish to share, let me jump back to Mrs. Kool's 4th Grade class. I was a great note taker. I had to be, for I never knew what the next school would be studying at the time of our next move.
Mrs. Kool was a, I believe, a teacher a bit ahead of her time, or, maybe the truth is, she was just one of the very special teachers, which if we are lucky, we will have a few in our school years.
A topic which I believe was pretty bold, yet, on mark, for 4th grade students, was one of how this country had always depended on the compassion of others. In doing so, our country, made up of people with names that was much like a stew. We each were part of the USA, yet, by our last name, we never had real "American" names. That was something I have held onto since that time. When I see the news and they roll the names of the most recently killed soldiers in battle, the names belied the fact that each of us had a uniique history. The names were Italian, German, Chinese, Japenese, English, Spanish and so many more. This country is, by itself, the only country where so many names, so many people of so many places came to make one, great Union.
Back to Mrs. Kool and compassion. One day she wrote what was for te school a somewhat daring quote from a true hero author, on a subject many would think better for older students or, more likely, a quote that should just have stayed out of the classroom.
This quote came from the great author, Herman Melville. I wrote it down as I thought I saw it on the chalk board, a real chalk boared. The quote questioned those who criticized the poor, the hungry, the out of work in the "Western" countries. (I remember living in Berlin, and we had those quite scary practice sessions should a nuke hit us. Somehow, even at that age, hiding under our desk seemed a bit silly.)
Again, I wonder from this quote. I still have the paper I wrote the quote on. The quote I copied off of the chalk board is the first quote below. It is a very thought-provoking quote, particulary for a 4th grade student to bring home to his parents.
(To be so very honest, quotes like this, assignments that stretched and questioned our beliefs were exactly what my parents were looking for in our education. So, yes, they loved what I brought home that day.)
I copied the quote as I saw it written on the chalk board. Yet, in trying to confirm that it was indeed a quote from Mr. Mellveill, I never found the exact quote. I found a quote with the same sentiment, but worded differently.
The quote which is below the quote I wrote down so many years ago, seems to have some additional words added to it, perhaps to make the quote even stronger.
I have checked many quote sources and I have never found the quote I had written down. No matter, the point was made and it was and is still all too honest, correct.
I have listed the Web site where I have confirmed the correct quote language, but, to be fair to the meaning of the quote, Mrs. Kool's error did us no harm.
Please, read on and drop me a line or please comment, sharing your thoughts on this quote.
This is what I wrote and what I still have on a very used piece of paper. I wrote it in Mrs. Kool's 4th Grade class, at Wright Patterson Airforce base. I will try to scan the quote, as soon as I can get my scanner back to scanning. It seems to have taken a sabatical.
From that chalk board, in Mrs. Kool's 4th Grade classroom, I wrote this:
Of all the proposterious assumptions of humanity, nothing exceeeds the criticism made of the habits of the poor by the well housed, well warmed, well fed. (from my 4th grade class, with Mrs. Kool, who was cool.)
A bastardization of the Melville quote?? I don't know, but, the truth is told.
The confirmed Herman Melville quote:
Do not presume, well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed, to criticize the poor. (confirmed)
This is Herman Melvilles quote on that very metaphore - fabric.
We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men. (confirmed)
My main source for confirmation of the original quote was from www.thinkexist.com. A wonderful site with tens of thousands of quotes from everyone and anyone. Please, click on the link and visit the site. Be warned, you may end up there for many hours. It is a world of discovery.
But, first, please leave a comment on how our feel about the above; share your thoughts and memories with the masses who have not had the true hard times of yet.
I wish us all the best as we move through this tough time in the world's history. And, it is my hope that we find and rebuild compassion towards each other.
