I was intrigued by a recent "Charlemagne" column in The Economist (Dec. 12, 2009 edition, p. 61). Lessons from "The Leopard" compares the state of Europe today to the decline of a 19th century Sicilian prince in Gisueppe di Lampedusa's novel, "The Leopard" (published a year after his death in 1958).
"Charlemagne" observes:
"The Leopard" ...teaches that living with decline is not always a question of denial: decline can be a seductive choice.
Don Fabrizio [the prince and "leopard" of the title of the novel] is also too tired to act. Sicilians, he tells one would-be political reformer, are "very old" and too "exhausted" for arguments about doing things well or badly. For them, he says, the great sin is "doing" anything at all.
"Charlemagne" sees "The Leopard" as a cautionary tale for today's Europe. He concludes,
Europe's rivals are young and hungry. The old continent should resist the allure of a genteel surrender.
"Charlemagne" does not extend the caution to America, but I do. America should resist the temptation to be "old" and retain its vigor, its commitment to "doing."
-- H. A. Masig המשיג