We Should Shoot Less Arrows

I ran across a poem Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote in 1845 entitled The Arrow and the Song...

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in it’s flight

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.

Which led me to wonder, in our era of social media, where we throw out cruel words with impunity...what his poem might sound like today:

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in it’s flight

I threw an insult into the air
It fell to earth, I knew not where
It may be unkind...it may be unfair
But I don’t know...and I don’t care.

Long, long afterward in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And that insult I chose to throw
Has caused more damage than I’ll ever know.

Perhaps Longfellow lived in a simpler time...filled with sweeter music and innocent rhymes
But oh, for that fellow’s time I long...where we’d throw fewer insults and breathe more songs.

 

View joy's Full Portfolio
Blackwingedbird's picture

Since the first pamphlets

Since the first pamphlets were tacked on a church we have engaged in insulting public media, heck the Romans inscribed slingshot pellets with the words 'take that' on them. Perhaps there never were gentler times just less connected ones.

allets's picture

Insulting Behaviors

Insults and assaults - wars happen that way. We are in for a political minefield of insulting behaviors. No one will be immune. Impeachments happen that way.