On the Move

Rosa Luxemburg, the Communist activist and writer once mused that those who don’t move don’t notice their chains. Now, you may think that I am extremely well read and that I gleaned this kernel of wisdom by reading turgid manifestoes by candle light, but I assure you this is not the case. I was at a bookstore, you see…I was lost and was desperately looking for a map because a friend had invited me for dinner and I was late…..this quote was on the page before the u-bahn map in some Berlin guide book. And it has stuck with me.

…but first more about quotes…. Using quotes makes you look far more intelligent than you really are, and I advocate the practice highly, for no sane person should ever provide another with an excuse to call them stupid.

The more obscure the quotation, the better. If the quote comes from a writer we all have heard of, but whom nobody reads, that is excellent. If the quote is in French, or comes from a French writer who we have all heard of but whom nobody reads, this is immeasurably superior: French may not be the international language of diplomacy any longer (shhh…don’t tell the French) but it has lost none of its snob appeal. Now if the quote is from the language of a marginalized people, or an oppressed minority, you have won the jackpot. If you say that you heard the quote from wizened woman (she was so amazing….she welcomed us into her home) stirring her pot of groats in the Andes…or Tibet…while you were searching for yourself and contributing to societies-in-peril, then your life’s work is done. Good for you….buy yourself an organic sustainable soy latté. You deserve it. If, however, you choose not to translate the quote from the original, you may arouse the admiration of others, but possibly the scorn and derision of many more. I leave this vital choice in your hands.

Man is born free, yet everywhere he is in chains – or so the saying goes. I couldn’t tell you where this particular quote comes from (Descartes? Voltaire? A French writer we have all heard of but do not read?). You see, the café where I currently find myself does not have internet access so I can’t look it up, and of course without the internet we know nothing.

If man is in chains, but doesn’t notice them if he does not move, what does that mean?

Damned if I know.

Well, I am done my very expensive coffee and my very trendy café and I am loathe to buy another, for I fear that if I do I will zip right on out of here…and I don’t want to upset the chains too much – they have already been through quite enough this last month!