Write a note to the person above you II

Dear GG,

I'm almost your age on the forum! Crazy, isn't it! Where has the time gone?

Now I'm wondering when your, er, endearing habit started.

Sincerely,
Freckles
 
Dear GG,

I approve of citing your sources. That is to say, my professors would approve and penalize you for failing to do so.... Apparently we owe footnotes to David Hume. Along various other kinds of philosophical insanity.

Sincerely,
Glen
 
Dear Glenbuttonhole,

I owe nothing to David Hume. Immanuel Kant owes a great deal to him. I owe a great deal to Immanuel Kant. Notably, a lot of laughs in 11th grade. So I suppose if I owe David Hume anything, it's the kind of awkward recognition you pay a friend's friend whom you don't know at all.

Sincerely,
Freckles
 
Dear Freckles,

Pray tell--how did Immanuel Kant become such a comedian? (I have a friend who takes him very seriously. It's apparently what philosophy majors do.)

Sincerely,
Glen
 
Dear Glenbengaltiger,

Have you read Nathan the Wise? I dare you not to find this funny (Spoiler alert):

Lessing said:
TEMPLAR. No more I beg of you—But Recha’s brother—

NATHAN. Art thou

TEMPLAR. I, I her brother—

RECHA. He, my brother?

SITTAH. So near akin—

RECHA (offers to clasp him). My brother!

TEMPLAR (steps back). Brother to her—
Click to expand...

Isn't it just so dramatic! We had to put the last act on the stage in 11th grade and all I remember is how much fun it was (I spent 11th grade in perpetual surprise as I discovered that school can be genuinely fun if no one's going through puberty and acting like jerks).

Sincerely,
Freckles
 
Dear Freckles,

No, I hadn't heard of Nathan the Wise, actually.... (Just googled it.) The characters all sound very confused. I wonder if any were hit by a falling whale?

Puberty and I didn't get along well. It never gave me a growth spurt, so I refused to have mood swings.

Sincerely,
Glen
 
Dear Glenburne,

I just realized that my brain jumped from Kant to Lessing without informing me. But I'm sure you could follow. Anyway, you'd never heard of Nathan? The Ring Parable? You should read it, it's quite fun, and written in blank verse. I don't know how good the translation is, though.

I suppose mood swings arent needed when you're consistently evil...

Sincerely,
Freckles
 
Dear Freckles,

If consistency is a good thing, you just made an oxymoron. Otherwise known as a dumb ox. Oh wait, that's Thomas Aquinas's nickname. Never mind.

Sincerely,
Glen
 
Dear Glenburne,

You seem confused. I can relate. Just know that you're not alone in this!

Anyway, you might want to apologize to Thomas Aquinas.

Sincerely,
Freckles
 
Dear Freckles,

He's dead. Also I have the entire Summa Theologica in my bedroom. Doesn't that count?

Sincerely,
Glen
 
Dear Freckles,

But how can an author feel truly insulted when you bought their books anyway? What do petty insults matter when there's money involved?

Sincerely,
Glen
 
Dear Glenburne,

Some authors are surprisingly little bothered by money. Some are surprisingly bothered by it. And some people buy books so that they can shoot them. So I think Thomas Aquinas can still feel as insulted as he likes. Maybe his ghost will steal into your house and make little notes in the margins of the Summa Theologica. Or highlight three quarters of the text in neon orange.

Sincerely,
Freckles
 
Dear Freckles,

If he highlights anything in orange, I'll kill him (again), but he can leave all the little notes he likes. Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to convince anyone else that they really are Thomas Aquinas's real comments...but still. I would be a fan of his marginalia. (There are other people whose marginalia I would not be fine with. Like David Hume's. Or my twelve-year-old brother's.)

Sincerely,
Glen
 
Dear Freckles,

I'm wondering at what point I should start a new thread. 900 pages seems a bit excessive.

GG
 
Back
Top