My forbearance has been eaten by a bear.
I have several examples of me being (or at least feeling) bearlike from this week. Here's the latest.
A Grown-up Person (who really is a Very Nice Person) told me that today is the equinox.
"Oh, yes," I said. "The longest day--so neat! . . .You mean the solstice, though."
The Grown-up Person was pretty sure it was equinox.
"Well," I said––BECAUSE I AM THE LIBRARIAN––"I always remember which is which because equi-nox is when night equals day in length."
They remained unconvinced. So they googled it up (yay!) and read me the definition: equinox is when the sun is closest to the equator.
"So it has nothing to do with the length of night and day," said the Grown-up Person.
I thought of a section in the bio I'm reading, The Knox Brothers, by Penelope Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald writes about her uncle Wilfred Knox when a young Anglo-Catholic priest joining a religious brotherhood called the Oratory of the Good Shepherd (OGS).
In the group...
"There were to be none of the 'quick of harsh judgements that harden differences' on anything or anybody, and this charity [––Fitzgerald adds––] would be hard to put into practice, because other people are not only infuriating, but boring. [bf mine]
The O.G.S. faced this from the beginning.Oh so admirable. I would like to adopt that.
'It is fortunate for us that loving and liking are not the same thing. We are not called upon to like our neighbour, but to love him.' This comment by one of the Superiors, George Tibbatts, shows how practical unworldliness can be."
I confess here that I failed not to make a quick and harsh judgment on the Grown-up Person who told me that the relative position of the sun and earth has nothing to do with the length of day and night.
I didn't entirely blow it though.
I did not bite the Grown-up Person.
_________________________
Illustration from book donated to the store, Bear and Forbear:
You are a patient bear!! Here is another from a grown up person, "When you burn gas, the flames are food for the sun", and this " if you only eat white food your poop will be white" _ "if your diet consists of energy efficient foods , you will not poop, the food will be used up in the making of cells"...Yep, grown up person!! I am not a librarian, nor am I a nutritionalist - but I did call BS, some ideas we just can not allow in the larger world of information. - carry on, Bear.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely Forbearing!
ReplyDeleteWishing you much patience xx
My mom saw a bear last week — in the suburbs of New Jersey, a cub moseying around on a sidewalk. Maybe it was looking for the equinox. My mom was in a car. It’s not uncommon to see bears in NJ. The authorities don’t do anything unless the bear is up a tree.
ReplyDeleteIsn’t it fitting that Trump* should be having a rally today? Truly the Longest Day of the Year.
I would find it very hard to love a neighbour that I did not like.
ReplyDelete