Fancies Versus FadsChesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith)
General
Fancies Versus Fads
Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith)
English essays -- 20th century
In other words, you find yourself at the foot of a steep and staggering
mountain crag, that is the real character and conscience of a man. To be
really at one with that man, you would have to solve real problems and
believe that your own solutions were real. In dealing with the one man
you would really have a far huger and harder job than in dealing with
your throng of thousands. And _that_ is the job that people run away
from when they wish to escape from domesticity to public work,
especially educational work. They wish to escape from a sense of failure
which is simply a sense of fact. They wish to recapture the illusion of
the market-place. It is an illusion that departs in the dark interiors
of domesticity, where the realities dwell. As I have said, I am very far
from condemning it altogether; it is a lawful pleasure, and a part of
life, in its proper proportion, like any other. But I am concerned to
point out to the feminists and the faddists that it is not an approach
to truth, but rather the opposite. Publicity is rather of the nature of
a harmless romance. Public life at its very best will contain a great
deal of harmless romancing, and much more often of very harmful
romancing. In other words, I am concerned with pointing out that the
passage from private life to public life, while it may be right or
wrong, or necessary or unnecessary, or desirable or undesirable, is
always of necessity a passage from a greater work to a smaller one, and
from a harder work to an easier one. And that is why most of the moderns
do wish to pass from the great domestic task to the smaller and easier
commercial one. They would rather provide the liveries of a hundred
footmen than be bothered with the love-affairs of one. They would rather
take the salutes of a hundred soldiers than try to save the soul of one.
They would rather serve out income-tax papers or telegraph forms to a
hundred men than meals, conversation, and moral support to one. They
would rather arrange the educational course in history or geography, or
correct the examination papers in algebra or trigonometry, for a hundred
children, than struggle with the whole human character of one. For
anyone who makes himself responsible for one small baby, as a whole,
will soon find that he is wrestling with gigantic angels and demons.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account