This Quote comes from Chapter 34 of Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell To Arms. This book was published in 1929.
" The World breaks everyone and afterwards many are the strong in the broken places. But those who will not breaks, it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these, you can be sure that it will kill you too. But there will be no special hurry."
There used to be a term for men like Hemingway- " A Man's Man"- the type of man that many boys and young men were advised to emulate. He is considered one of the authors who set the standard for literary excellence for American Authors in the 20th Century. He was awarded The Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954.
I find Mr. Hemingway's perspective, as embodied in THIS quotation to be too limiting, harsh and cynical. We can make a difference in our life and, at the very same time, the lives of others. We act to better conditions, to learn, to teach and listen patiently and excellently to others. This then helps us to learn to formulate the right questions- the questions that give us sufficient information to determine what we need to do and to develop a plan to best get done what MUST be done!
Having a tender heart that can be moved and provoked into action, knowing that we strive to do more today then we did yesterday and we are intentionally working to make today better and more fulfilling than yesterday was.
Life does not get better due to lack of effort but just noting that things are getting worse and cynically observing that this is so is a guarantee that life will get worse and will continually get worse- this will happen dependably and will, in fact, get worse MORE RAPIDLY over time!
The 18 Month Prime Directive, a concept that all people who are part of the JOHNNYVERSE are most aware of is a deliberate plan to live a life- MY OWN LIFE- in a way that will not be continually broken, unmanageable and conspicuously pathetic!
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