International Squib Day

 

  Welcome to International Squib Day, which falls every year on the Sunday closest to New Year's Day and which was instituted by the Wannaskan Almanac to celebrate all things squibby- all epigrams, aphorisms, bon mots, all maxims, dictums, words of wisdom, and pithy sayings.

  I've been a fan of proverbs ever since Sisters Eubestrabius read to us from the book of Proverbs in fifth grade. Don't argue with the stupidity of a fool. You'll only look foolish yourself. 

 Next year when sister thought we were mature enough, she read the book of Ecclesiastes to us.  

There is no remembrance of former things,

nor will there be any remembrance

of later things yet to be

among those who come after.

  "Sister Eubestrabius? I said. "Since everything is Vanity, shouldn't we go have fun while we can? What's the point of school if everything's going to be forgotten?"

Sister referred to the quote from Proverbs above.

  I learned you can't prove anything by words of wisdom, even words from the Bible. You can only enjoy them. A writer I've come to enjoy this year is Franz Kafka. I used to dislike him until I found out that when he read his books to his friends he had them in stitches rolling on the floor. So I tried him on audiobooks. His heroes get into delightfully absurd situations. James Joyce tried to replicate the dream state in Finnegan's Wake. Kafka does it more coherently.

Here are some Kafka squibs:

If it had been possible to build the tower of Babel without ascending it, the work would have been permitted. 

Theoretically there is a perfect possibility of happiness: believing in the indestructible element in oneself and not striving towards it.

The true path leads along a rope stretched, not high in the air, but barely above the ground. It seems designed more for stumbling than for walking along it.

On hearing these words, Kafka's friends probably said, "Why so paradoxical, Franz?"

My Squibber of the Year is the French nobleman François de La Rochefoucauld.

There is no disguise which can hide love for long where it exists, or simulate it where it does not.

Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans fires.

In friendship as well as love, ignorance very often contributes more to our happiness than knowledge.

Neither the sun nor death can be looked at with a steady eye.

If we had no faults of our own, we should not take so much pleasure in noticing those in others.

These squibs, being timeless, are also absolutely modern.

And now a few of my own squibs about squibs:

I wait for squibs to land on the tip of my pen.

Some come gently as a butterfly,

Some with the ardor of a housefly.

Squibs are like fireflies that light up my night. 

I must catch them in these jars of words, 

Or they'll be gone by morning.

Squibs are like breadcrumbs along the trail

When I find the next one, I say, All hail!

I wish you, dear readers, a happy and a healthy New Year.