On organization and a few more Bierce definitions
Moving can be difficult, especially as you get older. I have hired moving companies and hotels. But packing is tedious, and I find it takes about two days with my amount of stuff. But it is life.
From Bierce:
“Restitution, n. The founding or endowing of universities and public libraries by gift or bequest.”
This makes me think of the “re-naming” controversy for public monuments. I don’t think there is anything totally objectionable for areas to honor soldiers who may have been on the wrong side of military conflict. I am politically conservative and think some universities over-compensate for historical wrongs.
“Retribution, n. A rain of fire-and-brimstone that falls alike upon the just and the unjust as have not procured shelter by evicting them.”
There is more to the entry. It makes me think of James Joyce’s novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and the film based on it. There is a part/scene based on it where a priest (played by John Gielgud in the film) lectures adolescent men about going to hell, implicitly for masturbation or premarital sex.
“Revolution, n. In politics, an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment. Specifically, in American history, the substitution of the rule of Administration for that of a Ministry, whereby the welfare and happiness of the people were advanced a full half-inch.”
More to this entry too. It reminds me of the idea that some people considered the American Revolution against Britain a mistake, even though that is not what most children here are taught. As said before, Bierce was a U.S. Civil War soldier and was apparently very cynical about his own country’s government. “Meet the new boss; same as the old boss.” —The Who