Irish
Irish
5. The foolish man thinks he is a wise man.
Dear friends ... a thousand apologies. Some of you were in touch with me about my talk from last night. Some of you were worried that romanticism had gotten the better of me. Perhaps you are right. I admit I gave in to romanticism last night. How could I not give in? I don鈥檛 regret it though. I myself believe that this world is beautiful. I believe that this planet cannot be bettered.
We must remind ourselves why we are fighting. We must remind ourselves and the politicians of the value of these small things. We must celebrate the swallow鈥檚 achievement. We must remember the swallow鈥檚 bravery. Yes, that is romanticism but it is not senseless romanticism.
Think about it. If you said to the swallow: 鈥淟ook you are only a tiny little bird. You have only two little wings. You live in Africa. You can鈥檛 fly thousands of miles to another country. You can鈥檛 travel over land and over sea. You can鈥檛 escape the gunmen. You might as well give in. You might as well stay where you are. You might as well die. You won鈥檛 have any fledglings. Be reasonable. Listen to me. Stay still. Avoid the sky. Avoid the guns. Avoid the other side of the world.鈥
What would happen if the swallow listened to your request? What would happen if the swallow said you were right? What would happen then, friends? One swallow would say to another swallow that she was only a tiny little bird. She would say that she only had two little wings. She wouldn鈥檛 fly the thousands of miles to another country. She wouldn鈥檛 travel over land and over sea.
She would give in and she would stay where she was. She would be reasonable. She would stay still. She would avoid the sky. She would avoid the guns. She would avoid the other side of the world. She would listen to your requests and we would be the poorer for it. There鈥檚 no summer without a swallow. We wouldn鈥檛 have a summer. That would be disastrous, wouldn鈥檛 it?
I know we have big problems. You yourselves know that we have big problems. Our situation is bad though let us have hope. The foolish man thinks he is a wise man. Let us not give in to the foolish man. We will put the wise man first. Let us not be afraid to use the two little wings we do have. The little swallow can travel the whole world. The human race can put a man on the moon. We can set the environment to rights if we just have the courage. Yes, I gave in to romanticism. I gave in to the little bird from Africa. Why would I not give in?