"Democracy may be a mere step away from anarchy,
but at least the people have the power of choosing
which chaos the can have!"
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"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep
to gain what he cannot lose."
- Jim Elliot
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"Science without religion is lame:
Religion without science is blind."
- Albert Einstein
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"Uva Uvam Vivendo Varia Fit"
This old Latin phrase is from the annals of ancient history.
It’s hard to decipher, and there's no direct translation.
It derives from the "Scholia di Juvenal 2.81"
referred to by "Remigius of Auxerre, a key figure in the transition from the "Carolingian" to the
Twelfth Century Renaissance, who wrote his
commentary on the
"Consolation of Phylosophy"
between 902AD to 906AD.
It “simply” means something like:
"a grape changes color [i.e., ripens] when it sees [another] grape"
It's altruistic translation though is often
accepted to read something like:
"a grape does not become a great grape
unless it is among other great grapes"
yet...
What purpose or worth does a single grape
on an empty cluster represent?
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I can't help but remember my Grand folks on my mother's side, and their stark realistic contrast in comparison with the people we were raised to hold as my Grand folks on my Dad's side. On my mother's side their was Ernice and Flora, kind, open hearted, rural type folks who were a perfect example of genuine politeness and warmth. They would welcome you at their door, ask if you would like some "Postum" coffee, tea or whatever and treat you humanely and decent.
On the other half of the family were Harold and Geneva. He himself was an honorable man, prior duty World War II and wounded/decorated. However, the example portrayed by his critical, stern, hash tongued and cripplingly opinionated wife was a sore spot to any that took the time and made the mistake of getting to know them too closely for too long.
Am I being critical too, in stark reality and judgement? No, merely defining the contrast is all. For those two examples are ones of harmony versus disharmony, functional versus dysfunctional. There were my two maternal grand parents, glowing and compatible, supplying the harmonious company to one another to supply the support in all aspects of mentality, morality, character, emotion and family. They "shared" their lives together, till Flora passed at 85 years f age, and my Grandfather lived till he was 92. They were a blessing to others, as they held others to be a blessing to them.
On the other hand was the patriarchal side, with Harold beset by the curse of a hard hearted wife that knew more than everyone else, that had a bitter opinion of others that no church wished to allow to spread within its flock for long. Her gifts were shared with a daughter long grown and now gone, who in turn raised a harsh hearten daughter vengeful and sharp tongued to continue a debilitating, stagnant blight in life for others seeking good grapes to share with. Disharmony, unhappiness, never content and thus never a gift to the cluster of grapes seeking light and growth.
I've related this not in an effort to cast an influential verdict on your own judgment of me or mine, but in a genuine effort to paint a picture of how important it is for we ourselves to consider the value of our own company to others, rather than merely their qualities and addition to the group of clusters we associate with. In the same way that we wish to nurture our own character and cure our own inequities with a forgiving but building insight, so too we wish to help nurture others qualities to grow and benefit themselves and others around them. If we can help the cluster, we are more valuable in life, more worthy to life than if we merely seek to point out dull grapes. Our time is often better spent not criticizing, but rather helping and assisting others who are generous enough to help polish and perfect the cluster of grapes as a whole, and allow them to help polish our own qualities. Thus the worth of the cluster as a whole is far more a value to us as a grape, than to merely attempt to shine our own appearance as a single grape on a group of stems barren and fruitless.
We can’t naturally think of ourselves as great grapes,
if we can’t hang with other great grapes well.
We just need to make sure we honestly endeavor by sometimes truthfully evaluating ourselves, and making sure that the quality of the grapes we hang with is strengthened by our own addition to the cluster,
and makes for a good group of worthy grapes overall….
smiling
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It's all up to us
good or bad
and how our life affects the lives of others.
