Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Captain Harding's battle


I heard today they're speeding up debates on the RH Bill, which is supposed to save the country from poverty by cutting away at the population employing what GK Chesterton calls Birth Prevention. They're making a vote tomorrow; I hope they see that enforcing contraceptives on the population is not the answer, but strengthening family values and trashing that over-sexualized media culture that can't get enough of itself.

(Besides, contraceptives are bad for the health; just look at the literature behind every birth-control advertisement published in random women's magazines to see what I mean.)

While the forces clash in congress, here's an excerpt from a Jules Verne adventure to help remind us that, in the end, there's Someone up there who makes many great and good things spring from all our silly human mistakes. Maybe also to remind us that no battle is too big when what you fight for is honest-to-the-bones, good for humanity.

This excerpt is from Verne's little-known novel called The Mysterious Island. In this scene, six castaways under the leadership of Captain Cyrus Harding, an American engineer, prepare for battle against fifty pirates who threaten their colony, Lincoln Island:

The pirates had been alarmed. They knew that Lincoln Island was inhabited. They would land upon it in numbers and well armed. They would respect nothing. Should the settlers fall into their hands, they must expect no mercy!

"Well, we shall know how to die!" said the reporter.

"Let us go in and watch," answered the engineer.
"Have we any chance of escape, captain?" asked the sailor.

"Yes, Pencroft."
"Hum! six against fifty!"

"Yes! six! without counting--"
"Who?" asked Pencroft.

Cyrus did not reply, but pointed upwards.

2 comments:

sunnyday said...

Wow, Nicole, this is something! Thanks for posting it :-)

Update: it looks like voting won't happen tomorrow :-))))

And interpellation will continue. I'm not sure how many interpellators will get the chance to tackle the bill, but certainly not the 5 -- the number that's being insisted on to shorten the period of interpellation. Can you imagine such a manner of tackling such a crucial issue? 5 for, 5 against, 10 mins each. Ano ito, college debate? Needless to say, it won't be a serious discussion -- more like contest of debating skills.

Anyway, thanks again for blogging about this.

petrufied said...

hay salamat! yes, with an issue this important, our legislators can't afford to treat it like some inconsequential college debate.

so, how many people were there yesterday?