Povey Prattle

The English word "courage" is rooted in the Latin word "cor" meaning "heart". Here are some other words with the same root (cor/cord):   accord, cordial, core, concord, discord, discordant, encourage, record. "Brave" is a  Middle French word which has been directly imported into English.  It meant "splendid, or "valiant".  ( In former times, a man decked out in his finest clothing would be described as being in his "braveries"   - how splendid!). I do not believe that the two words are synonyms. I think that "bravery"  is a learned behaviour.  For example, the best military training teaches women and men how to be brave. Thus Senator John McCain exhibited bravery when he flew his naval jet on combat missions in Viet-Nam. Similarly the Viet-Nam era American and Australian ground troops know as "Tunnel Rats" were brave -  as a result of their training. see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Many were shocked/surprised/amazed at the reaction of some Amish families after their young ones had been horribly murdered.  This National Public Radio story sheds some light on the forgiving spirit of Amish families whose children had died. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14900930 In a similar vein, some members of  the A.M.E "Emmanuel" Church in Charleston, S.C.  offered forgiveness to the alleged murderer (evidently a White Racist), of their brothers and sisters. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-power-of-forgiveness/2015/06/22/a331c77e-190d-11e5-bd7f-4611a60dd8e5_story.html How cozy it is to "coo" with pleasure when Amish and A.M.E. Christians forgive those who have brutalized them. But what about us: do we have the same ability and willingness  to forgive? I think about a woman I know,  who finds it impossible to forgive the man who murdered her daughter. I have suggested to her that it is indeed  ut...

CONCERNING RUMOURS A rhyme from 1916/1917  -  re the rumours in London during "The Great War". Absolute evidence have I none, But my aunt's charwoman's sister's son Heard a policemen on his beat Say to a housemaid in Downing Street That he had a uncle who had a friend Who knew for a fact when the war would end.     I happened upon this rhyme in the book  * "The Panther's Feast" by Robert B. Asprey  ( Published by Johnathan Cape, 1959).   Asprey attributes it to Sir George Aston.   Other sources say that the rhymer was Reginald Arkell. * "The Panther's Feast" is a historical novel about Alfred Redl, the notorious head of Military Intelligence in the Austrian Army, who was also a spy for the Russians -  between 1901 and 1913 http://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/13/movies/colonel-redl-the-man-behind-the-screen-myth.html 

I was chatting with a colleague last week, and I ventured to say that the word "love" is so over-used (especially in the pulpit) as to become the verbal equivalent of debased coinage. I reminded him that the late Bishop  Krister Stendahl (a man of immense wisdom) urged preachers not to use the word (love) unless it was specifically used in the biblical passage for the day. Bishop Stendhal not withstanding, it is hard for me to recall a recent sermon in which there was no  reference to the love of God. Of course I trust in God's love (most days), but I believe that the Christian message should not, and cannot be reduced to the simplistic message that "God loves everyone". When I hear "God loves everyone"  I respond by thinking "why?", or "so what?".  Is God no greater than my beloved pooch Penne who seems to love everyone? My musings on the word "love"  were stirred when the United States Supreme Court ruled that ...

I had planned to post some of my "profound" thoughts and theories about the meanings of the word "love" today. But "real life" intervened. A friend from Church stopped by.  We had a couple of drinks and nibbled on some chips ("crisps").  Then we got real, and opened up our souls, each to the other. We took off our masks.  We abandoned pretense.  We refused to stick to the generally approved scripts of the play-acting which masquerades as human life and experience. Instead we "got real, and opened up our souls, each to the other". Thus we enjoyed some moments of silence.  Thus we shared our teary eyes. A poem (attributed to George Elliott) describes well this opening of the soul to another:   "Oh the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person. Having never to weigh thoughts, or measure words, But pour them all out, chaff and grain together. Knowing that a faithful hand will take a...