You've likely noticed the text that accompanies my blog header. The lines are from Thomas Merton and come from the prologue to his book Raids On the Unspeakable.
I've always wanted to add the next few lines of that quote, but space doesn't permit. So here is the entire quote I would have liked to use:
You are not big enough to accuse the whole age effectively, but let us say you are in dissent. You are in no position to issue commands, but you can speak words of hope. Shall this be the substance of your message? Be human in this most inhuman of ages; guard the image of man for it is the image of God. You agree? Good. Then go with my blessing. But I warn you, do not expect to make many friends.
Richard, I cannot believe that you have made such a serious error of judgment. How on earth you could stop the text before its stunning punchline Then
go with my blessing. But I warn you, do not expect to make many
friends? So I beg you, in the bowels of Christ, extend ET's epigraph to the bitter end. Indeed without its parting shot, do you not actually misrepresent Merton? Please, do not force me to contact the lawyers responsible for Merton's literary legacy ... ;)
"The inhuman age", when the image of God and of man seem to be standing on their head. When the meek, the gentle, the loving, are accused of being enemies of the nation, of the culture and of the "gospel"; when citizens who remind the rest that Civil Rights should be protected, are themselves called racist and antagonistic; when the passionate who stand up for voting rights of people of color, the aged and the young, are accused of trying to steal the country; when those who stand up against capital punishment are labeled as un-biblical; when the voices that call for better regulations for guns, are drowned out by more rant than reason; when those who love peace are portrayed as weak, we then learn through struggle, pain and rejection, that the way of the indwelling divine, the way of Christ, the way of the child of God, the way of the child of humanity, certainly does not make many friends. With that said, I daily ask for forgiveness for the times I did not open my mouth.
Okay, Kim, for you I made the change. :-)
So, everyone, what's the verdict? Too much text in the header? Or does it look okay?
(As you can tell, I'm pretty fastidious about the look of this blog. I like to keep it clean, simple and uncluttered. And I'm obsessed with formatting consistency from post to post.)
Excellent. Keep the whole quote!
I suspect the text is now too hard to read. I can read it fine, but a person with poor eyesight would probably have trouble reading any of it now.
I've set the font size back to what it was originally. That should fix it.
Hooray! As the Dodo Bird said, "Everybody has won and all must have prizes."
I think the text is too long. Mind you, I like the whole quote - and who knows, maybe you are misinterpreting Merton, or maybe not if you miss the last part- but, being this long, I don't feel I want to read it when I come into this blog. Well, this are my two cents. Cheers.
I like the shorter version, ending with, "guard the image of man for it is the image of God." :)
I go back and forth between the shorter and longer. Maybe I'll go back and forth.
I like the full quote!