(HOST) Commentator Peter Gilbert says that lessons about not making convenient excuses for inaction — either as a society or as individuals – can be found in an anniversary coming up tomorrow – and a modern Greek poem.
(GILBERT) Constantine Cavafy knew that making excuses for inaction stops us not only from making progress but also from living the way we really want to live. In 1904 he wrote a poem entitled, Waiting for the Barbarians . Translated, the poem begins this way:
What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum?
The barbarians are to arrive today.
Why such inaction in the Senate?
Why do the Senators sit and pass no laws?
Because the barbarians are to arrive today.
What laws can the Senators pass any more?
When the barbarians come they will make the laws.
Why did our emperor wake up so early,
and sits at the greatest gate of the city,
on the throne, solemn, wearing the crown?
Because the barbarians are to arrive today.
And the emperor waits to receive
their chief. . . .
The poem ends this way:
Why don’t the worthy orators come as always
to make their speeches, to have their say?
Because the barbarians are to arrive today;
and they get bored with eloquence and orations.
Why all of a sudden this unrest
and confusion. (How solemn the faces have become).
Why are the streets and squares clearing quickly,
and all return to their homes, so deep in thought?
Because night is here but the barbarians have not come.
And some people arrived from the borders,
and said that there are no longer any barbarians.
And now what shall become of us without any barbarians?
Those people were some kind of solution.
I wonder who — or what — the barbarians are today that stop us from acting either as individuals or as a society? What fear or potential development deters us from doing today what we ought to do?
Something like this actually happened on May 19, 1780. Scholars and eyewitnesses tell us that the day was remarkably dark in New England — not from an eclipse, but probably from smoke from massive forest fires in Canada and perhaps heavy storm clouds. Candles were lit in many houses; the birds fell silent. Fowl went to roost. It was generally thought that the Day of Judgment had come. The Connecticut legislature was in session in Hartford. The House of Representatives adjourned. In the Senate a motion was made to adjourn, but a Col. Davenport said, “I am against an adjournment. The Day of Judgment is either approaching, or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for an adjournment; if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish therefore that candles may be brought.”
Col. Davenport’s words are relevant today, too. I hope we light the candles, take on the work that needs to be done, and not be deterred by possible obstacles down the road. Even if we make only limited progress, the effort causes us to lead the lives we want to live.
Peter Gilbert is executive director of the Vermont Humanities Council.