LIFE’S CYNICISM

IN 1928, novelist and schoolmaster Ernest Raymond compiled a book of his favourite passages from literature, offering his thoughts as part of the narrative. At one point he comments on the tendency for cynicism among the literary greats of his time.

“But if despair is the truth for the majority,” he wrote, “it is no truth for me. Something instinctive and elemental rises up in me to resist such doctrines. I believe that indignant force to be life itself, rising to prove itself more good than bad!”

It’s a decision we have always made for ourselves. Personally, I hope as many people as possible agree with Mr Raymond – and life!

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ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON was not a notably religious man. Asked once by a priest if he was Christian, he denied the charge. But there is no doubt he was a spiritual man.

Travelling through France on a donkey, he spent a night sleeping under the stars on a wooded hillside. Waking, he had a strong feeling that he had been gifted something special. After loading his packs and walking off, he dropped coins on the grass to the amount of a night’s lodgings, hoping some poor person would find them.

Whether it was God or nature he was thanking did not concern him. He simply felt he ought to give thanks.

It’s a deep part of us, this need to give thanks, whether it be by prayer, by good deeds or by loving one another.