Driftwood Spars: The Stories of a Man, a Boy, a Woman, and Certain Other People Who Strangely Met Upon the Sea of LifeWren, Percival Christopher
History
Driftwood Spars: The Stories of a Man, a Boy, a Woman, and Certain Other People Who Strangely Met Upon the Sea of Life
Wren, Percival Christopher
India -- History -- British occupation, 1765-1947 -- Fiction
If it be remembered that he fell for nine days, be realized that he must
have fallen with an acceleration of velocity of thirty-two feet per
second, each second, and be conceded that he weighed a good average
number of pounds, some idea will be formed of the violence of the
concussion with which he came to earth.
In spite of the terrible warning provided by so great a smash there yet
remain people who will argue that it is better to fall through Pride
than to remain unfallen through lack of it. By Pride, _Pride_ is meant
of course--not Conceit, Snobbishness and Bumptiousness, which are all
very damnable, and signs of a weak, base mind. One gathers that Lucifer,
Son of the Morning, was not conceited, snobbish, nor bumptious. Nor was
Moussa, son of Isa, Somali--but, like Lucifer, Son of the Morning,
Devil, he fell, through Pride, and came to a Bad End.
One has known people who have owned to a sneaking liking and unwilling
admiration for Lucifer, Son of the Morning--people of the same sort as
those who find it difficult wholly to revere the prideless Erect when
comparing them with the prideful Fallen--and, for the life of me, I
cannot help a sneaking liking and unwilling admiration for Moussa Isa
Somali, who fell through Pride.
There was something fine about him, even as there was about Lucifer, Son
of the Morning, and one cannot avoid feeling that if both did not get
more of hard luck and less of justice than some virtuous people one
knows, they certainly cut a better figure. Of course it is a mistake to
adopt any line of action that leads definitely to the position of
Under-Dog, and to fight when you cannot win. It is not Prudent, and
Prudence leads to Favour, Success, Decorations, and the Respect of
Others if not of yourself. It is also to be remembered that whether you
are a Wicked Rebel or a Noble True-Hearted Patriot depends very largely
on whether you succeed or fail.
All of which is mere specious and idle special pleading on behalf of
Moussa Isa, a sinful murderous Somali....
Most of the memories of Moussa Isa centred round scars. When I say
"memories of Moussa Isa" I mean Moussa Isa's own memories, for there are
no memories concerning him. The might, majesty, dominion and power of
the British Empire were arrayed against him, and the Empire's duly
appointed agents hanged him by the neck until he was dead--at an age
when some people are yet at school, albeit he had gathered in his few
years of life a quantity and quality of experience quite remarkable.
'Twas a sordid business, and yet Moussa Isa died, like many very
respectable and highly belauded folk, from the early Christians in Italy
to the late Christians in Armenia, for a principle and an idea.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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