“Moral
Take heed, learn wisdom hence, weak man,
And keep a good friend while you can;
If to your friend you are unkind,
E’en love will be against you join’d;
Reflect that every act you do
To strengthen him doth strengthen you;
To serve you he is willing-able-
Two twists will make the strongest cable,
To bind a friend and keep him steady,
To have him e’er in reach and ready.”
Robert Emmet
Ireland Patriot,
1778-1803
Seems fitting, still.Ā Always.
A lesson to be learned.
The Chatter Blog 
The patriot appears to have died quite young.
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He did Russ. Actually, he was murdered (that’s how I see it) when he was found guilty of treason for trying to make his country (Ireland) free from British rule. That is a huge oversimplification….
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A very valuable lesson indeed, for what value are we without a friend in hand. Here just out of Geelong 10mins down the road, there’s a country lane named, “Friend In Hand Road”, and ever since I was a child of reading age, that lane’s name has always struck me as a very special saying ….
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I love that name. I wonder what the story is behind it?
My favorite line is about strengthening another strengthens yourself.
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Beautiful, I shall take that on board. xx
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š Is that Australian speak for “I’ll check that out”? š
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More like, “I’ll take that saying as one of mine too”
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š Yay! š
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oh, Colleen, your thoughts are always so appropriate.
Everything always seems so clear morally. And yet there are situations there it is not clear. When morality and your seemingly own luck face each other and you have to decide …. who wins? And related to the friendship? Of course I have always supported my friends and will do that throughout my life. It works in our own little world. But as soon as you open yourself, and you are tangible to the whole world, you have lost, if you help everyone. Because who decides who the true friend is? There is nothing wrong with being friendly to all, but help that takes up a lot of time, strength, and potential money must be reserved for special people. But how to decide who is special. How do I know who is honest with me? The sentence “To bind a friend and keep him steady, I honestly do not like very much. It sounds very egotistical to keep a friend “warm” in case you need him, I do not care about friends, because I want their help in case of emergency but because I care about them, that they are fine, like me. And if I am not feeling well, I can not really care for friends.
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I suppose that’s one interpretation, honestly I didn’t see it like that Anie. But I can see why you did. I think I felt the overlying message was to be kind to others, always, that being good to others strengthens both the other and yourself. I think I saw this as a way to treat all people, and all people working together makes us all stronger. But that was just my feeling for it. I came across it while I was reading about the man who wrote it. It just really spoke positively to me.
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ohh, thanks Colleen for your hints …. I say I missed something on the topic ..; ) … I did not really pay attention to Robert Emmet. In terms of its history, a helping hand could certainly have had a tremendous significance. I think now I understand.
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I always appreciate you asking Anie, or expressing your interpretation and then we share back and forth. It’s how we learn. š
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you are so kind and a real gentlewoman to say WE learn…; )
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But ‘we’ do. š
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ā¤
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always. i love this.
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Thank you Beth. It really kind of grabbed me. Seemed appropriate these well over 200 years later.
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Thanks for this reminder, MBC. Awesome.
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Thank you MBM. š
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Thank you Iris patriot. Thank you Colleen.
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I thought it was appropriate for our times to Paulette. š
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very nice!
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He speaks well across the years.
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I love “two twists will make the strongest cable.” What a wonderful poem, and thank you for introducing me to Robert Emmet.
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You are welcome Debra. I think it’s amazing when we read things hundreds of years old, that apply to us still. Because…you know….we’re all human.
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