Beckett in Germany

[Richard Romeo]

and note the particularly
> > entropic concerns of both SB and TRP), with a profound sympathy,
> > empathy, even, for, indeed, the excluded, the passsed over, the
> > preterite ...
>
>------------------
something that's been on my mind:  have we gone too far, is there too much 
sympathy for the insane, the excluded, the folks on the margins--seems to me 
sometimes that we've lost the folks in the middle somewhere--either we pine 
for or denigrate the rich, the intellectual heavyweight, the secure or we do 
the same for the folks who live rotting lives, people who live in subways, 
the homeless, the preachers on the street corners, etc.

The culture, in some way, and I'm not sure I can prove this, seems to exalt 
such "otherness" now, the excluded or folks who stand out in some way, where 
now we seem to live in a world of 100 people living in 100 seperate 
communities. Are there too many fingers pointing to find your otherness? 
Sure, it makes sense, with what institutions and governments have wrought in 
the past century, but hasn't the idea of putting such outcasts or beautiful 
losers or the damned on a pedestal a bit tired by now?

Do we make things worse by perpetually feeling the pain of the 
"downtrodden"--is it another form of insult? Is it just as bad as those who 
live their lives through the glow of celebrity and the elect?


Maybe I'm just getting old
Rich
_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at 
http://profiles.msn.com.