Sunday, January 8, 2012

Commonplace Book

'..."I don't think anybody could have helped him, not at the last. Every one is shocked and sorry because it was dramatic, like something in a novel; but it isn't a greater tragedy than what is happening all around us, happening slowly, not dramatically, so that very few people notice or care. People are being squeezed out of life, humiliated in their deepest feelings, robbed of their most natural rights, through no fault of their own, but because there is no place left for them in this artificial life we lead. If they resist society is angry. If they kill themselves every one is horrified. But if something worse happens - if they become broken-spirited, resigned, a dead weight - no one notices. It is too commonplace and uninteresting a tragedy to evoke sympathy or sorrow. It has become just a casual part of life..."'

from Plaque With Laurel by M. Barnard Eldershaw (Part V, Chapter III)

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