Comfort Over Condolence
Where to begin? Alright, so I like that Thucydides doesn't stray from the reality of the situation in this. He uses Pericles' speech to exemplify how the Athenians viewed themselves. Thucydides takes us through the burial rituals before giving us Pericles' speech to sort of set the scene for us. Pericles starts his speech by stating how great Athens is basically. After he starts to speak about the lost soldiers, we realize that he is partly doing this to demonstrate how brave these men are to die for such a wonderful city state. He concludes by speaking to the families and giving them hope and advice for what to do now that they have lost their loved one. He says that he doesn't offer them condolences because they have died for such an honorable cause, but instead offers them comfort in their time of mourning. Honestly, Pericles seems to be doing an honorable thing for his country by saying what he is saying, but as a family member of the loved ones, I don't know if I would feel comforted. What do you guys think?
P.S. I commented on Zane and Spencer's posts.
P.S. I commented on Zane and Spencer's posts.
I think the whole comforted thing sounds a lot like "christian" funerals today. At almost every funeral I've been apart of, the speaker often says we should have peace and be comfortable in the fact that the lost loved one is in heaven now. I disagree with that statement because even Jesus wept. I think we can find comfort in Christ, and that we have hope that we will one day see our lost loved ones again, but hurting with hope still hurts.
ReplyDeleteI definitely would not have been comforted had one of my family members been one of the fallen, but I feel as if I would have been thankful for Pericles's time and energy in preparing and delivering the speech. Furthermore, it would have been nice to see my family member pubically recognized and honoured.
ReplyDeleteI do not think I would be comforted if I were a family member of one of the fallen soldier. Pericles does a great job honoring the fallen as soldiers, but every thing he mentions in his speech goes back to how great of a place Athens is. I know that the soldiers willing laid down their lives for this city state, but I feel the men deserved a little more recognition than what was said. But, Pericles also brings up the point about people becoming angry if people are under praised or over praised. This is a good point, but in my opinion, the soldiers should have had more said about them rather than Athens. This could possibly bring more comfort to families.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all the comments, and your post especially. Comfort would be a hard thing to comprehend at this time to lose someone of such great honor and meaning to your life. Though the recognition would be favorable in my eyes, it would still be hard to find a true content.
ReplyDeletePericles does say to the families that they should find comfort in knowing that their loved ones died in the most honorable manner, but yet (as I said in my blog post) does that truly provide comfort? Obviously, no. But that is the issue is it not? What is the highest aim? For Athenians it as honor for ones country, and for christians it is God's kingdom, and there is comfort in knowing our God is above all and is with us in our mourning.
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