Ought I to admire …?
Ought I to admire the searching consciousness that scrutinizes itself and then comes to the comfortable conclusion that one does what one can? Would it be so easy a thing for you, my hearer, to determine how much it is one can? Were you never in such danger that almost in despair you exerted your strength to the utmost and yet ardently wished you could do more? And perhaps another was watching you with a dubious and beseeching look, wondering if you might not do more. …
Was this your consolation, that you said, “One does what one can”? Was not this precisely the reason for your disquietude — that you did not know within yourself how much it is a man can do, that at one moment it seemed to you infinitely so much, at another so very little?
Soren Kierkegaard
Either/Or
1843
Ilidas says:
Alas, most do not even do what they can — what is within their grasp to do without fear of reprisal. E.g., the simple act of adhering to recycling guidelines seems beyond so many.
Of course, what is required in this life — and in these times, especially — is to not merely do what one can, but to seek to do more than that….
November 20th, 2007 at 11:20 pm