The Exquisite Art of Getting Even by Alexander Mccall Smith

Author:Alexander Mccall Smith [Smith, Alexander Mccall]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Polygon

DIGNITY

&

DECENCY

An Introduction

Our celebrity culture encourages all the wrong values. It creates a world of inflated egos, in which people behave with discourtesy to others and with scant regard to that old-fashioned virtue: modesty. That is one of the issues that occurs in this next story, set in the literary world – the world of editors and book festivals. There are two heroes here: one is a young man who carries with him the burden of unrequited love. For some, that is a sentence under which they serve their life. He does so with dignity and decency, as many do. Then there is a Mr A.J. Canavan, an Irishman, whom we never meet, but about whose virtues we hear. The good that people do may be felt well after they have left us – and it may be felt in ways that we do not anticipate.

A central issue about revenge is addressed in this story, and sides are taken. Revenge may be entertaining, but ultimately, we must acknowledge that to exact revenge is the wrong thing to do. It just is. Mercy and forgiveness are important goods that we must stress at every opportunity. We have to forgive, rather than seek revenge. Remember Nelson Mandela, that gracious and good man, who embodied that so demonstrably. Forgiveness heals; it allows us to unclutter our lives with the business of the past; it makes room for human flourishing. It also facilitates the happy ending, which is what we want in most, if not all, the books we read, and in life too.

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