AND
A FOOL IS WAITING
FOR ANSWERS
©
2000 Jan Koschinsky
Meaning...part
I
"The plain and simple truth is seldom plain and never simple" Oscar Wilde (Hope I translated this one correctly!)
There are countless examples in nowaday and ancient history of how words and sentences are twisted. I´m going to tell you about two of my favorites.
Juvenal wrote: "Orandum est ut sit...MENS SANA IN CORPORE SANO!".
Did
you know the first part of this? What he meant to say is never spoken out
loud!
"I would like to imagine, that in a healthy body, there SHOULD be a healthy
mind." Since half of the sentence was left out by history, the meaning was
completly lost. He was actually referring to the kind of body-cult the Romans
had (you find in our fitness-treadmills all over this planet).
Body over mind? Better kick some ass instead of thinking it over first?
Interlude...part I
"Gewalt ist die Bankrotterklärung des Geistes!" => "Violence is the bankruptcy of the mind!" (Don´t mind my translation, I still believe you´ll get what I mean!)
In German, every word has several meanings. Think about "Staatsgewalt" being the government´s EXECUTIVE!
Meaning...part II
When J.F. Kennedy had his moment in German history, standing on the balcony of the "Berliner Rathaus" and said: "Ich bin ein Berliner!" he was referring to the fact, that any given German can be proud again to say these little words. It turned out to get twisted instantaeously.
The Germans thought/think, he said that he would be a Berliner -- "...one of us!"
The Americans thought/think, that he´s made a total fool out of himself, by saying he´s a jelly doughnut!
Since we´ve got a sweetbread named Berliner, it might be taken as such.
See, there is this translation-problem again!
Interlude...part II
I am not a German! I am a Kieler!
For the sea...part I
Am Meer, am wüsten, nächtlichen Meer steht ein Jüngling-Mann, die Brust voll Wehmut, das Haupt voll Zweifel, und mit düstern Lippen fragt er die Wogen: "O löst mir das Rätsel des Lebens, das qualvoll, uralte Rätsel, worüber schon manche Häupter ge- grübelt, Häupter in Hieroglyphenmützen, Häupter in Turban und schwarzen Barett, Perückenhäupter und tausend andre, arme, schwitzende Menschenhäupter. Sagt mir, was bedeutet der Mensch? Woher ist er gekommen? Wo geht er hin? Wer wohnt oben auf den goldenen Sternen?" Es murmeln die Wogen ihr ew´ges Gemurmel, es wehet der Wind, es fliehen die Wolken, es blinken die Sterne gleichgültig und kalt. Und ein Narr wartet auf Antwort. (Heine, Fragen)
Down by the sea, the barren, the sea of the evening, stands a youth-a man, his breast full of sorrow, and with his dark lips he asks the waves: "O riddle me this, the sense of life, the torturing, ancient riddle, which many heads were brooding about, heads with hieroglyph-caps, heads with turbans and black baretts, heads with wigs and thousands more, poor, sweating human heads. Tell me, what is the meaning of man? Where did he come from? Where does he go? Who lives upon the golden stars?" The waves are murmuring their endless murmurs, the wind is blowin´, the clouds are fleein´, the stars are blinking indifferent and cold. And a fool is waiting for answers. (Heine, Questions)
I like Heine, EVEN THOUGH HE´S SARCASTIC!