Gulliver’s Travels, Part II, was an interesting sequel to Part I; rather than Gulliver’s giantness with the Lilliputians, he is of Lilliputian size to the inhabitants of Brobdingnag, and everything else is large to match the inhabitants. I suppose in a sense Gulliver learned how it felt to be a Lilliputian in his presence, or rather, how a Lilliputian would feel among the peoples of Europe.

Gulliver’s Travels certainly alters my view of the world, in a rather odd way. After reading of the smallness of the Lilliputians, I began to imagine similarly small visitors to my room, and felt a giant living in a world of giants in which some small people also roam. Then, upon reading of Gulliver’s travels in Brobdingnag, the giant’s land, I felt small in a sense, though it was much harder to imagine people of so great a size than it was to imagine them little, and hence my mind pretended that Gulliver came to visit me, with myself as a giant. How it twists my mind!

One fascinating point in the latter part was a giant’s book that Gulliver read which talked about the possibility, in fact the philosophical necessity, of the past existence of giants, a larger form of humanity less fragile compared to the world. Of course, this implies giants larger than the ones with which Gulliver was presently residing, and also explained the current giants from the point of view of Gulliver’s European homeland.

Could there be infinitely more giants, each set greater in size than the previous, yet somehow no race found by any of the others, excepting the case of Gulliver? Presumably it might go the other way, with smaller and smaller versions of humanity.

Suppose this was true, and that the country of each race was larger or smaller proportionally, as Gulliver had experienced. Each race would feel inferior, weak in regard to its environment and thus postulate the existence of giants. Could this not support the notion that humanity was meant to be in the proportion to its environment as it is, and that there is some reason behind that, since it would be so in each race of giants, giant giants, Lilliputians, and mini-Lilliputians? What a thought!

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift begins with Captain Gulliver’s tale of how the year 1699 found him shipwrecked onto the island of the kingdom of Lulliput, home to humans beings no more than six inches in height. When describing Lilliput, Gulliver notes the following:

In choosing persons for all employments, they have more regard to good morals than to great abilities; for, since government is necessary to mankind, they believe that the common size of human understandings is fitted to some station or other; and that Providence never intended to make the management of public affairs a mystery, to be comprehended only by a few persons of sublime genius, of which there seldom are three born in an age: but they suppose truth, justice, temperance, and the like, to be in every man’s power; the practice of which virtues, assisted by experience and good intention, would qualify any man for the service of his country, except where a course of study is required. But they thought the want of moral virtues was so far from being supplied by superior endowments of the minds, that employments could never be put in such dangerous hands as those of persons so qualified; and at least, that the mistakes committed by ignorance in a virtuous disposition would never be of such fatal consequence to the public weal, as the practices of a man whose inclinations led him to be corrupt, and had great abilities to manage, to multiply, and defend his corruptions.

A novel idea, indeed! That employment should be based on moral integrity at the expense of intellectual ability is an idea completely foreign to the American system: quite its opposite, in fact. The key to successful society in the eyes of a Lilliputian is an unwavering standard that brings out the best in all participants. This view suggests that all men are capable of doing pretty much anything, and that it is more important for a person to have values than qualifications. What would this world be like if it were run in such a way?

Late last week I re-discovered several Barnes & Noble gift cards that I had received some time ago. Over time they expire, or they require you to pay extra money to keep them active, so I decided I needed to use them right away to avoid forgetting them again. One was $10, the other two $25.

Only one gift card can be used per order, and hence I had to have three different orders. After some effort, I came up with several books that I am interested in reading and thus came to purchase the following:

Order 1:
      Gulliver’s Travels by Jonothan Swift,
      Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, Sir Orfeo by J.R.R. Tolkien

Order 2:
      Little Big by John Crowley,
      The Merlin Trilogy (The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, The Last Enchantment) by Mary Stewart

Order 3:
      The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle,
      Shadow & Claw (New Sun #1 & 2) by Gene Wolfe

The Merlin Trilogy was worth more than I intended to spend, at $29.95, but The Crystal Cave alone cost $15, as did each of the other two books, and I figure that after reading the first I willwant to read the second and third, and so should just save $15 by purchasing all three together in one hardback book.

The first two orders have arrived, and the third is on its way.

I received a belated birthday present today that caused me a bit of laughter: two “Learn Country Line Dancin’” videos! Unfortunately, I don’t have a VCR, but whenever I do have the opportunity to view them, I imagine it will provide quite a bit of enjoyment. I have some friends here at school who would love to learn country line dancing, and would probably enjoy watching these videos with me.

My brother recently purchased the set of Lord of the Rings extended edition movies, and so we were watching some of the special features today. Did you know that lots of the angelic-sounding music was sung by a boys choir? The young blond-haired kid who was the main singer sounded great! I wish I could sing that well!

Today, Easter, is my birthday! I am now old enough to legally drink alcohol. though I don’t imagine I ever will. I enjoyed spending time with my family, and am somewhat depressed now that I’m at school, but it was good to be home! I have a wonderful home, and a wonderful family, and I look forward to seeing them soon!

Easter is a wonderful holiday. Easter reminds us of the sheer awesomeness of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice almost 2000 years ago that allows us to be free from sin and guilt. I can think of no good thing better than Jesus! He is risen!