Honoring

Cathy Edgett

May 27

I read about a message found in a fortune cookie: About time I got out of that cookie.

I laugh as I consider the boxes we navigate in a world, both complex and simple.

President Biden spoke at West Point yesterday. He said to the Cadets:

Hold fast to your honor code, which says, quote, "We will not lie, steal, or cheat, nor tolerate those who do," end of quote.

And above all, hold fast to your oath. On your very first day at West Point, you raised your right hands and took an oath — not to a political party, not to a president, but to the Constitution of the United States of America — against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

West Pointers know better than anyone: Freedom is not free. It requires constant vigilance.

I would add to vigilance, education fueled by the complexity revealed in literature. In the May 27th New Yorker, there's an article by Anthony Lane, Abridged Too Far. At first I thought it was a joke. It's about an app called Blink. "It takes an existing book and crunches it down to a series of what are called Blinks."

The article ends with a look at Blink's presentation of the fallen angels in the book Paradise Lost.

"They've just lost their first big battle against God and plummet to hell. But despite their defeat, Satan wants to continue the struggle against God. He assembles his demons to talk strategy."

Lane comments "Talk about the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People!" He continues that Blinklist with its high-tech alchemy transmutes "literature into business, turns the inhabitants of literature, even the ones with tattered wings, into businessmen. Listen, rapt, as the devils crunch the numbers and kick around ideas for going forward:

Moloch suggests open warfare against heaven. Belial advocates for doing nothing. Mammon argues for making hell a little nicer so they can all live a happy life of sin.

And Lane concludes: "I'm with Mammon, all day long. Life is short, and so, if you look at your phone, is literature. Blink and you'll miss it."

And with that, honor this day by remembering all that's been sacrificed to hold in place an honor code that states "We will not lie, steal, or cheat, nor tolerate those who do".