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Word-Wednesday, April 4, 2018

And here is the Wannaskan Almanac for Word-Wednesday, April 4, 2018, brought to you by the Roseau Public Library, and by The Plaid Walleye, another proud sponsor of Roseau Dough Drawings, "Why draw with anything else?"

April 4 is the 94th day of the year with 271 days remaining until the end of the year, but only 38 days remaining until Mothers Day, and counting...

Earth/Moon Almanac for April 4, 2018
Sunrise: 6:55am; Sunset: 7:58pm
For today, the moon rose yesterday and will not set until tomorrow.

Temperature Almanac for April 4, 2018
           Average    Record    Today
High   44             73            30
Low    23           -15            11

April 4 Celebrations
National School Librarian Day
National Walk Around Things Day

Notable historic April 4 events, literary or otherwise, include
:
Ignatius of Loyola becomes the Jesuit's 1st superior-general, 1541

Susanna Medora Salter elected 1st US woman mayor in Argonia, Kansas, 1887

George Bernard Shaw's "Too True to be Good" premieres in New York City, 1932

Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, 1968

Winston Smith in Orwell's 1984 begins his secret diary, 1984

April 4 author/artist birthdays include:
Washington Irving, Rip Van Winkle, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, also coined the word "Gotham" to refer to New York City, born April 3, 1783 at midnight, so close enough for Word-Wednesday

Margaret Oliphant, Scotland, Beleaguered City, novelist/biographer, 1828

Louise de Vilmorin, Lutin Sauvage, French poet/author, 1902

Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, Cheaper by the Dozen, American author, 1908

Muddy Waters [McKinley Morganfield], Hoochie Coochie Man, American blues guitarist, 1913

Jan Drda, Nema Barikada, Mestecko Na Dlani, Czech writer, 1915

Lars Ahlin, Death of Me, Swedish writer, 1915

Maya Angelou [Marguerite Johnson], I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, American author, 1928

Words I looked up this week: Anabaptist, arborescent, atavistic, chiliastic, dogend, farrago, knell, kohl, radiolarian, sigil

Today's Riddle:
A mile from end to end, I'm as close to you as your next friend. Found on rich and poor, found on short and tall, shared among children most of all. Who am I?*

In response to the chilled atmospheres of both the Palmville Township skies and our national discourse, today's edition of Wannaskan Almanac Word-Wednesday is devoted to the word, compassion. The OED defines compassion as "sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others", from Late Latin compassionem (nominative compassio) "sympathy," from com "with, together" + pati "to suffer". But like so many words, definitions fall short of the mark. Thankfully, a few authors have fleshed out richer meanings:

Can I see another’s woe
And not be in sorrow too?
Can I see another’s grief,
and not seek for kind relief?
William Blake

The love of our neighbor in all its fullness simply means being able to say to him:"What are you going through?" 
Simone Weil

By compassion we make others' misery our own, and so, by relieving them, we relieve ourselves also.
Sir Thomas Browne

Self-absorption in all its forms kills empathy, let alone compassion. When we focus on ourselves, our world contracts. 
Daniel Goleman

Compassion and tolerance are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength. 
Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Compassion is probably the only antitoxin of the soul. Where there is compassion even the most poisonous impulses remain relatively harmless. 
Eric Hoffer

In languages that derive from Latin, ‘compassion’ means we cannot look on cooly as others suffer. Milan Kundera [born April 1, 1929, in Brno, Czech Republic]

Compassion in the highest degree is the divinest form of religion. 
Alice Meynell

Compassion is the basis of all morality. 
Arthur Schopenhauer

Compassion is the desire that moves the individual self to widen the scope of its self-concern to embrace the whole of the universal self. 
Arnold J. Toynbee

Compassion is a mixed passion, composed of love and sorrow. 
Noah Webster

Compassion for our parents is the true sign of maturity.
Anaïs Nin

The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings.
Thomas Merton

Be more kinder and warmer than yesterday, learn a new word today, and to stay out of trouble - at least until tomorrow.

*Your smile

Comments

  1. Hmmm...is that a Wannaskan out there chopping ice?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Aye, it is and a Palmvilleian, to boot. We're no wimps when it comes to participating in the yearly P.P.P., (Palmville's Polar Plunge) Fundraiser. As you may have observed, polar plunges often have large holes cut in the ice by chainsaws, probably by non-participants. Here in Palmville, the rule is plungers must provide their own holes. Using a single-bit ax, this Palmvilleian not only provides his, but builds a sweat doing it even while immersed to his knees in ice-cold Minnesota water. Although this gentleman 'bares' a remarkable likeness to Ula Josephson of eastern Palmville, he is somewhat more advanced in age, I surmise, having never seen Mr. Josephson nekked.

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