DTRT

 

I once mentioned to a co-worker, just as idle conversation, that I had observed there were usually from one to three churches on most corners of a city that was (and still is) awash in violence and crime, and it looked like no one was learning a whole lot on Sundays.   He did not like that much, stating that "church is for sinners."  I thought "wha...?" but said (and this was the wrong thing to do, judging from his reaction) one could ignore the twisting toils of religion and philosophy by substituting four words:  Do The Right Thing.  

But...while that should prevent a lot of bad behavior if practiced,  I have found it often does not work out too well for you.   

Once while I was picking up car wreck litter on the boulevard -- it is banked the wrong way and about once a month a speeding car goes off the road into the drainage area or hops the median.  Someone stopped and accused me of being the driver who made the mess and wanted my information.  A block closer to home, I once picked up some litter caught by a parked car's wheels (the wind always blows on trash day); the owner came out of his house, followed me home, and demanded to know what I was doing to his car.

Many years ago during a very bad snow and ice storm, I received a frantic call from the person on duty at the radio station where we worked.  The studio had moved to the middle of nowhere behind a farm and was no treat to get to, especially at night.  He had been trapped there long beyond his shift, probably quite hungry, and needed me to relieve him.  It would not have been right to not help, so I headed out in my mother's car with bald recapped (remember those?) rear tires.  On the way, a VW was sitting at the bottom of an icy hill with no brake lights on.  Too late, I realized it was not moving; it did move when I slid into it.  A bogus "neck pain" law suit later, I found my insurance cancelled and had to give up my own new car (not the accident one).  No good deed goes unpunished, as they say.

Away from vehicular to-dos, there are many more examples, which I will spare you, except for these:  I found a Social Security card near the local library on a walk.  I returned home, got on the computer and found an address for it, walked back and returned it, asking if this was the right residence.   The man who answered was extremely suspicious and unfriendly, but carefully took the card before shutting the door quickly.  That was sure worth all the effort.  And once I complimented a stressed mother (a relative) who was dealing with a shrieking toddler at a big noisy event just with the motivation to make her feel a little better.  Big mistake, as it was taken the wrong way.  No more unsolicited encouragement from me anymore!

I don't know why things play out this way.  Despite the evidence, I still think DTRT is a valid common-sense guide.  That ol'  karma is tricky, though.

    

What You Say?

 

We saw surf music legend Dick Dale perform in cozy local venue nine years ago.  A serious guy, he did little patter, made one joke (not repeatable here) and reminded us that "Thoughts become words, words become actions and actions have consequences."  There are many versions of this (one carrying it further: actions--habits--character), and the basic idea goes back at least as far as the Buddha, two and a half millennia ago.   

So, the words we use -- they are powerful. Amateur linguist Benjamin L. Whorf put forward a hypothesis ("linguistic relativity") that one's language influences and molds one's cultural reality by limiting our thought processes.   For example,  sexism seems built into languages with gender (Romance, that is, Latin-based ones, Hindi and Arabic); the male version of a noun or pronoun is the default.  Think of the term "mankind," or that doctor, actor or nurse have until recently pretty clearly indicated the person's gender who is being spoken of.  

German is well known for its use of long compound terms for precise description.  In this case, though, it is probably scientific and psychological thought which have influenced the language rather than vice-versa.  The Whorf hypothesis is better understood as a correlation or in a reciprocal way than as deterministic, like the old nature vs. nurture debate*.  But think about the corrosive effect of foul language in all-male environments and hip-hop music.  It is like, on a physical level, a neighborhood of empty lots, weeds and broken glass.  Both do clearly have strong negative influence.

The Hopi and Mandarin languages do not have tense.  But those who speak them do indeed know what time is and what is past or present.  So does the world look the same in different languages?  The ancient Greeks did not have a specific word for "blue."  An Australian aboriginal group thought of the sky as black.

   In 1984, Orwell made a strong case that language can and is used as a malignant tool to shape and control what we think:

Speaking of control, it is said that cats have 40 or more vocalizations.  They mostly mean "Feed me," and you had better get up and do it.

_________

*The subject of one of the Three Stooges' best films.

 

A Real Wonder Woman

 

 Augustina Raimunda Maria Saragossa i Domenech was celebrated by Byron in one of his best-known poems:

"Who hang so fiercely on the flying Gaul?  Foiled by a woman's hand before a battered wall..."

When Napoleon invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 1808, driving all the way to Lisbon and forcing the flight or abdication of Spain and Portugal's kings and installing brother Joseph as the new ruler, Augustina accompanied her husband, Sergeant Juan Rosa, immediately to the resistance, bringing along their young son.  The desperate defense of Zaragoza, which they joined, was mostly up to civilians facing an overwhelming French force. 

After heavy bombardment, the invader attacked at several points.  At Portillo gate, those gunners and militia who were not already dead fled to the central town square.  The abandoned 24-pounder cannon Augustina was near had been loaded with canister (shrapnel) shot; she touched it off and fired right into the face of a dense enemy column, driving them back with great loss.  The citizen defenders, inspired, rallied and returned to the barricades, holding the besieging army at bay for three months.  But their home was left in ruins.  Napoleon  was informed of the high casualties, and that "It is impossible that Zaragoza should ever recover; this city is a horror to behold. "

Amazingly, Augustina and Juan escaped and later participated in the second siege of Zaragoza, the defense of Tortosa and the decisive battle of Vitoria.  She became so ill she almost died, and their son did.

Honored as La Artillera and Maid and Defender of Zaragoza, Augustina was made a lieutenant and granted a lifetime pension by the grateful king -- the only female officer of the Peninsular War. 

Juan was also promoted to lieutenant and survived the war by eight years.   Augustina remarried a doctor, had a daughter, and lived to be 71.  She is buried near the scene of her brave stand, at the parish of Nuestra Senora del Portillo.

Portrayed by Goya