Human Frailty


Full disclosure to avoid any semblance of plagiarism – I stole this idea from my current favorite BBC series Lark Rise to Candleford. (Current to me but originally aired in 2008 – 2011.) Dorcas Lane is the postmistress caught in a wave of changes to her small town of Candleford in Oxfordshire at the end of the 19th. century. Her notoriety extends beyond the walls of the post office due to her persistent meddling in everyone’s affairs.

Her maid Minnie is a wonderful addition to the cast in the second season with her penchant for asking questions that are “extraordinary.” In the episode I watched today, Minnie is a-twitter with questions about just what does Happily Ever After really mean in affairs of the heart. Dorcas is prepared to answer with wisdom to share and spare.

“We all want life to be simple and our relationships to be enchanted and then along comes human frailty. Before we know it, all will be lost.”

Human frailty. I have seen a ton of that going around in the world lately. So much so that it seems like an epidemic. Waves of it. Oceans of it. Human frailty runs rampant from Orlando to Dallas to Minnesota to Baton Rouge. It zigzags through a packed crowd in a huge commercial truck in Nice, France before striking again in a failed military coup in Turkey. It shouts angry hate-filled  rhetoric in a large convention hall in Cleveland, Ohio before skipping across the Atlantic again  with gunfire in a shopping mall in Munich. Behind every evil stands the specter of human frailty.

Thank goodness for the relief of Lark Rise, a break from the onslaught of bad news on my favorite 24-hour news channels with their 24-hour news cycles. Yes, give me a good conversation with Twister Terrell, another of my favorite friends from Lark Rise, who sums up what happens when human frailty runs rampant.

“Some folks got neither logic nor reason nor sense nor sanity.”

Here’s hoping somewhere… sometime… somebody unravels the key to human kindness and compassion for each other that will not only change the news cycles but enable us to rediscover the logic, reason, sense and sanity that our human frailty disguises.

Like Minnie, I long for Happily Ever After.

 

 

 

 

About Sheila Morris

Sheila Morris is a personal historian, essayist with humorist tendencies, lesbian activist, truth seeker and speaker in the tradition of other female Texas storytellers including her paternal grandmother. In December, 2017, the University of South Carolina Press published her collection of first-person accounts of a few of the people primarily responsible for the development of LGBTQ organizations in South Carolina. Southern Perspectives on the Queer Movement: Committed to Home will resonate with everyone interested in LGBTQ history in the South during the tumultuous times from the AIDS pandemic to marriage equality. She has published five nonfiction books including two memoirs, an essay compilation and two collections of her favorite blogs from I'll Call It Like I See It. Her first book, Deep in the Heart: A Memoir of Love and Longing received a Golden Crown Literary Society Award in 2008. Her writings have been included in various anthologies - most recently the 2017 Saints and Sinners Literary Magazine. Her latest book, Four Ticket Ride, was released in January, 2019. She is a displaced Texan living in South Carolina with her wife Teresa Williams and their dogs Spike, Charly and Carl. She is also Naynay to her two granddaughters Ella and Molly James who light up her life for real. Born in rural Grimes County, Texas in 1946 her Texas roots still run wide and deep.
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14 Responses to Human Frailty

  1. Pingback: Human Frailty – Red's Rants and Raves

  2. Terry says:

    Our world is in chaos . Nice to have a place you can get your mind away from things

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Wayside Artist says:

    “Some folks got neither logic nor reason nor sense nor sanity.”

    Let me steal that quote, Sheila. It explains so much.

    You have Lark Rise. I have the Fun-e-Farm. 😉 As I drove home last night from feeding and checking horses ( Frankie gave us all a thrill. We thought she was pregnant. The vet said no; she’s producing milk for little yearling Candy who is attached to Frankie’s hip ❤ ), I realized I had no tension, no pain, no thoughts. My horses left me completely in the moment, completely at peace, completely scrubbed of stress. If only people motivated by hate, rage, bigotry, and domination could experience that. I wonder if they could pervert bliss?

    The world is nuts. Sending love to my dear friends.

    Ann

    Like

    • Yes, I would highly recommend a trail ride experience for everyone! Or even a nice hike in the woods. I think it would help people to connect to the essentials of life rather than its often superfluous add-ons.
      What excitement to think Frankie was pregnant – wouldn’t that be something??!! But so sweet to think she would actually produce milk for a little yearling. Now that’s love! Lucky Candy.

      Love to you all – think of you every day!

      Sheila

      Liked by 1 person

  4. Wayside Artist says:

    I was excited, disappointed and relieved. A surprise foal would be a delight, but very difficult financially. She does love her adopted baby.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. boblamb says:

    Loved this column, Sheila. Keep up the good work.

    Like

  6. reocochran says:

    The world has had so many past problems and tragedies; these moments seem to echo our “worst” days, Sheila. They probably are close. . .
    I cannot understand how much joy and hope comes from when a new baby is born and then, to create and turn their lives into disasters. Why? I don’t get it, not one bit!
    By the way, I am not sure why but my phone has accidentally ” disconnected” posts I know I used to follow.
    To Luanne Castle, I recently mentioned if my finger lingers upon an area by something like “the following button” it unfollows that blog. Even if I didn’t press “Unfollow.” So today I again pushed Following. 🙂 🙂
    Sorry, this sounds absurd considering how long you have arrived safe and sound in my Reader.
    I am hoping Hate won’t win in the U.S. elections, Sheila. I am praying sincerely to the Man upstairs and hope Red can help intervene, present a good case for a certain woman. . . xoxo

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Heather Hartt says:

    Amen

    Like

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