Sunset by Korean-born Helen Hyunsuk KangMaha has such a fabulous quote by Wendell Berry over at The Mahablog that I am compelled to share it here.
“We’ve lived by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. We’ve been wrong. We must change our lives so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption that what is good for the world will be good for us. That requires that we make the effort to know the world and learn what is good for it. We must learn to cooperate in its processes and to yield to its limits. But even more important, we must learn to acknowledge that the creation is full of mystery. We will never clearly understand it. We must abandon arrogance and stand in awe. We must recover the sense of the majesty of the creation and the ability to be worshipful in its presence. For it is only on the condition of humility and reverence before the world that our species will be able to remain in it.” — Wendell Berry
Thanks, Maha!
She also has a great post on the Burmese monks, international politics, nonviolent protest, and the Metta Sutta. Check it out.
--the BB
5 comments:
I love Wendell Berry. He is so right about so many things.
I want so much to quote one of his two-line poems on my blog, on the subject of turning 70, but how does one do "fair use" of a two line poem? The poem is in his latest book of poetry, Given.
BTW, my letters spelled "dingi". I hope that is not a description of my comment.
Your comments are never dingy (with either a soft or hard G). IANAL, as they say, but perhaps fair use could include that poem with full attribution, hoping it would lead others to purchase his book?
{IANAL = I am not a lawyer)
As I understand "fair use" in the copyright law - and I'm not a lawyer either - one may quote only brief portions of a work with attribution, unless one has permission.
Frankly, I stay on the side of being careful, although it's likely no one would notice.
You are quite right to tread carefully. Moral grounds should, I think, come first in that authors are entitled to protection of their creative and intellectual property. Secondly, one does not wish to be guilty of infirngement, so legal grounds come into play.
So hard to discern with a two-line poem. You will see that I just posted an entire poem from a worship resource book. Going out on a limb but I read the permissions / restrictions section that the authors put at the front of my source book first. It is designed for a worship resource and many kinds of copying are allowed in that context. What I put here is clearly public, hardly a physical community at worship. I hoped to squeak through on the "educational" rubric, not to mention the hope of empowering prayer and action for freedom and dignity. And I gave detailed acknowledgment (full footnote style). IF I err, I am happy to repent, delete, go and sin no more. If my ass is sued, then yikes!
The U.S. Copyright Office guidelines leave it all delightfully fuzzy, though with some guidance:
http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html
Paul, I have read the guidelines, and they are fuzzy. I sometimes take the educational outlet, if it's permitted.
Even with copying pictures to my blog, I read carefully. Some museum sites are generous, such as the Met in NY and Christus Rex. Others, like the National Gallery in London, want you to pay.
I want to do the right thing with intellectual property.
Post a Comment