Years of Poems and Spirits

今日忽然阴雨不断，傍晚推窗，天色昏明，四顾茫茫。一夜唯听雨声铿锵，水滴如注。情景声音，如风过帘动；旧人故事，似锦瑟重弹。是非究竟，奈何时过境迁。纵使相逢，仍怪尘面霜鬓。
伤事耶？伤人耶？伤逝也。
录旧提以志。

明月宿鸟偎高枝，旧梦惊回思君时
沈园不堪问生死，禁城难免苦嗔痴
洛河百转神姝远，云台空候弄凤迟
何当潇湘听夜雨，抚琴轻吟小宇诗

Only through news media did I realize that I am close to sharing the same birthday as my personal hero, Nelson Mandela. It is presumptuous to say I feel honored, the news nevertheless gives me goosebumps.

How do I say this? By my account, only literary heros in myths and sagas could try to defy the fate Gods destined them to. For those who failed–that is most of them, we call them tragic heros.  In that sense, Mandela is the very few true human heros.

Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years since he was 44. Not only did he lose the best years of his life, he also lived through the harshest conditions one could imagine, including up to six month solitary confinement. His “fate” seems to destine him to a post-prison persona of bitterness and vengence. Instead, he came out of prison a Saint: a unifying figure in a country with a long history of segregation soaked with blood, a moral beacon that overshadows other legends of his time, including Popes, Presidents and other Nobel laureates. Another thing most people don’t realize that he is also a secular man whose willingness to forgive comes not from religious beliefs like that of Gandhi.

Has he no anger, no lust, no fear of motality—or any other traits we call human?

Tony Snow, the former White House press secretary, was dead. From what I know about him, I can only say, “Good Riddance!” The best 4th of July gift I’ve received so far was the passing of Jesse Helms.  But if Helms was a “bull dog” who still played by the rule, Snow–and others like him–are barking “chiwawas” who try to subvert the rules (see the NYKr article on Addington). Also on the list are Dick Cheney, David Addington and John Yu. I don’t wish them ill but only say this: there are many holidays to come and I can always use some gifts.

Like Joseph Goebbles and 姚文元, they are called “henchmen” by historians or the “Mob” by Arendt. They are so despicable because they serve nothing but power. To them, there is no morality or ethics, no principle or faith. The only thing that consumes their talent and career is the job of defending, justifying, and cheering the powerful and the abusive.

In Chinese, there is a term for them, “刀笔之吏”, or bureaucrats with a knife and a pen. At first, I thought it was a term comparing the power of words. After some digging, it is not. But the meaning stays true.

Here is what I copied from somewhere: 古人用简牍时，如有错讹，即以刀削之，故古时的读书人及政客常常随身带着刀和笔，以便随时修改错误。

(吴曰)《史记》中多有引用，如“萧相国世家”。在太史公写得最生动的“李广列传”中有如下一段：

大将军青亦阴受上诫，以为李广老，数奇，毋令当单于，恐不得所欲。而是时公孙敖新失侯，为中将军从大将军，大将军亦欲使敖与俱当单于，故徙前将军广。广时知之，固自辞于大将军。大将军不听，令长史封书与广之莫府。曰：“急诣部，如书。”广不谢大将军而起行，意甚愠怒而就部，。。。军亡导，或失道，后大将军。大将军与单于接战，单于遁走，弗能得而还。。。青欲上书报天子军曲折。广未对，大将军使长史急责广之幕府对簿。广曰：“诸校尉无罪，乃我自失道。吾今自上簿。”

至莫府，广谓其麾下曰：“广结发与匈奴大小七十余战，今幸从大将军出接单于兵，而大将军又徙广部行回远，而又迷失道，岂非天哉！且广年六十余矣，终不能复对刀笔之吏。”遂引刀自刭。广军士大夫一军皆哭。百姓闻之，知与不知，无老壮，皆为垂涕。

（highlighted之处疑是太史公“小说之笔”）想来太史公虽受酷刑而不辍笔，非曲于淫威或偷生之念，而是因为有“重于泰山”的使命感。同是文墨客的刀笔之吏，却生来有为虎作伥的奴性。李广明明死于卫青和武帝的合谋，却自言不堪“刀笔之吏”，太史公对于刀笔之吏和暴君的关系刻画实在深刻！