Mark Twain would be 179 years old today if he had lived. I am sure he is up in heaven right now wondering what, literally, on the earth is going on with us.
Twain was alive to participate, slightly, in the Civil War but was spared the atrocities of WWI by death, WWII as well, and it is a very good thing he did not live long enough to see our many other international entanglements with strangers considering him saying this:
Before I had chance in another war, the desire to kill people to whom I had not been introduced had passed away.
– Autobiography of Mark Twain
It makes me wonder what he would think were he to sit through an hour of You Tube or a news retrospective of the last 10 or 20 years. I’d imagine he would cringe or he might not be surprised at all at man’s ability to kill one another in such efficient ways.
Sometime this is attributed to Twain:
A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining and wants it back the minute it begins to rain.
Considering this humorous insight what would he think of the Big Bank’s bailouts?
The political and commercial morals of the United States are not merely food for laughter, they are an entire banquet.
– Mark Twain in Eruption
Indeed he would have found days and days of laughable feast in the mess we languish in now. Perhaps in the rough economic times we live in now Twain would simply explain some behaviors with this:
Prosperity is the best protector of principle.
– Following the Equator
Twain was our Shakespeare. He could reach past things and into them at the same time giving his reader an insight but also a very broad view of matters. I miss you Mark Twain but thanks for words!
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