Alexander Solzhenitsyn, a famous Russian writer and devout Russian Orthodox Christian, died yesterday at the age of 89. I remember reading Solzhenitsyn's Harvard Commencement Address from 1978 and thinking I was reading a "prophet" of sorts. His insights and observations stung me and the society I embrace to this day. They were words to mull over and possibly even act upon. Here's a small snippet of his address that's worth reading in its entirety.
"This tilt of freedom toward evil has come about gradually, but it evidently stems from a humanistic and benevolent concept according to which man – the master of the world – does not bear any evil within himself, and all the defects of life are caused by misguided social systems, which must therefore be corrected. Yet strangely enough, though the best social conditions have been achieved in the West, there still remains a great deal of crime..." (Harvard Address, 1978)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment