120 philosophical essays you must read in your life

Chapter 9

Chapter 1 Section 8 The Judgment of a Fool

[Russia] Pushkin

You always speak the truth, our great singer, and you speak the truth this time.

"The judgment of fools and the jeers of mobs"... Who has not learned these two things?

All this can--and should be endured, and whoever can--let it be contemptuous!

But there are some blows, they hurt your heart more than anything else... A man does everything he can, working hard, passionately, and faithfully... while upright hearts hide in disgust Leaving him, his upright faces flushed with anger at the sound of his name.

"Get out of the way! Get out!" some honest, youthful voices shouted at him. "We need neither you nor your labors; you defile our dwellings—you don't know us, you don't understand us...you are our enemy!"

What should this person do then?Keep toiling, and don't try to justify—don't even hope for a slightly more impartial assessment.

Once upon a time, peasants cursed a passer-by who gave them potatoes—the subsistence food of the poor—instead of bread.They knocked the precious gift from the hand that was extended to them to the ground, threw it into the dirt, and trampled it under their feet.

Now, they feed on it—and they don't even know the benefactor's name.

No matter!What does his name mean to them?He, though nameless, saved them from starvation.

Let us do one thing only: may we bring food that is indeed wholesome.

It is bitter to hear false accusations from the mouths of your loved ones, yet even this is bearable.

"Hit me! But obey me!" said the Athenian leader to the Spartans.

"Hit me - but may you be healthy and fed!" is what we should say.

【Together with you】

It may be difficult for us to be indifferent to the malicious judgment or harm of others, but what can we do?Misunderstandings and harsh accusations will eventually be crushed into dust one day, and those vicious words and haughty eyes will eventually be unable to penetrate our kindness and nobility.Although we will suffer slander and criticism, we should still love others... Although we will die in the eyes of onlookers, we should still defend virtues such as kindness and benevolence until death.In the blacksmith I found the lines of modern sculpture that our artists painstakingly sought in the flesh of the Greek dead.I unconsciously think that he is the hero made great by labor, the indefatigable son of our time, who forged tomorrow's society with iron in the fire.

(End of this chapter)