Not a Platitude Cookie…

15 Comments

1. acardnal says:

   13 January 2013 at 6:48 PM

   I think that applies to all of us, Father. We need to work harder and harder and harder to promote the one true faith until we are drop-dead tired at the end of each day.
2. acardnal says:

   13 January 2013 at 7:21 PM

   I should have added that I was paraphrasing the Servant of God Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.
   He worked until the very end of his prolific life. May he rest in peace.
3. Tina in Ashburn says:

   13 January 2013 at 8:47 PM

   Reading that fortune makes me tired…
4. Katheryn says:

   13 January 2013 at 9:22 PM

   Message from God cookie.
5. frjim4321 says:

   13 January 2013 at 10:25 PM

   I hate fortune cookies that don’t have fortunes.

   I despise platitude cookies.

   I think people are entitled to their rest and our worth is not contingent on working 100 hours per week.
6. Supertradmum says:

   14 January 2013 at 2:16 AM

   Like it. Have not had a fortune cookie for two years, but one of the last ones read “Smile, you do not know who may be looking at you.”
7. Phil_NL says:

   14 January 2013 at 2:38 AM

   To me, it sounds like a Maoist cookie; everything to increase the production of whatever (which of course turns out not to contribute at all to the glorious transformation of mankind, brought to you by the revolution).

   It would go well with some of the Obama-posters we’ve seen on this site.

   A restaurant is for relaxation, not work.
8. VexillaRegis says:

   14 January 2013 at 2:53 AM

   Years ago, I went to a Chinese restaurant with some friends. We read the fortunes aloud and had a good laugh – til I cracked my cookie. It was empty. It felt rather ominous.
9. Imrahil says:

   14 January 2013 at 4:24 AM

   That’s the sort of advice I particularly don’t like.

   I like: You have had a good start. Enjoy your time off this evening; and then go on, without distress.

   I also understand: You’ve been a lazy idler so far. Go fetch some discipline, and finally start working harder!

   But: All good so far, and hence work harder? Nope.
10. StWinefride says:

    14 January 2013 at 6:07 AM

    Imrahil: But “You have had a good start. Work harder” I think means exactly what you say in No. 2:

    You’ve been a lazy idler so far. Go fetch some discipline, and finally start working harder!

    It’s the kind of “teacher-being-diplomatic” statement that children’s school reports contain – however, us wise parents know how to read between the lines… and thank goodness!

    I mean no disrespect to teachers by the way – there has to be a way of communicating the truth to parents while preserving the delicate sensibilities of our young and not-so-young ones!
11. Imrahil says:

    14 January 2013 at 7:35 AM

    Dear @acardnal,

    although it seems disrespectful as a non-American to quote John Wayne to an American (apologies!),

    there’s that scene in The Searchers when he urges his companion that the horses need rest. The other one does not agree and rides on. Some time later he is overtaken, carrying the saddle, by John Wayne who still rides the horse.
12. Imrahil says:

    14 January 2013 at 10:19 AM

    Dear @StWinifrede,

    thank you for your answer. Interesting. I do know these kind of diplomacy, but I did not know that “having a good start” belong to it. Possibly cultural; around here, it is “he always endeavored hard for our company’s good”, or the harder version “he always endeavored hard to fulfil our company’s requirements”…

    Children’s reports, after the first and second year, simply have “Math: 4, German: 3” (meaning D and C respectively). No need of diplomacy there.

    That said, I do wish (exspecially where boys are concerned) they were treated in a perhaps rougher, more direct way. The way men are treated. Not because I’d delight in the ugliness, but because then things, even compliments, and the silver linings behind so many clouds, can still be expressed. Even if it is for the price of “bread, at least, is able to go moldy; but what is it you are able to?” (this being a common insult among workers and soldiers).
13. AnAmericanMother says:

    14 January 2013 at 11:52 AM

    Imrahil,
    Or you could quote Donn Byrne’s Destiny Bay re the foot race between the narrator’s Uncle Valentine and Piers Fleming’s mare.
    Same problem, same result.
14. robtbrown says:

    14 January 2013 at 12:22 PM

    I prefer one that says: You’ve been doing a great job, so take the day off–lie on the couch and in between naps think about what you’ll do tomorrow . . . or next week . . . or next month.
15. Former Altar Boy says:

    14 January 2013 at 6:13 PM

    The cookie was probably reminding you about your doctoral dissertation. How is it coming?

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