Reading as much as possible before my departure will hopefully free up some space in my pack. This way I won't have to explain why I have a backpack chock-full of random books of variegated interest.
In Howard Zinn's A Power Governments Cannot Suppress, one comes across a manifesto-esque conclusion where Zinn declares that, "An optimist isn't necessarily a blithe, slightly sappy whistler in the dark of our time. To be hopeful in bad times is not being foolishly romantic." Immediately I recognized this word 'romantic' from a quote I happened upon while writing my final philosophy paper in school. Kierkegaard writes in his Fear and Trembling that, "A man can still, in that last moment, concentrate his whole soul in a single glance towards the heaven from which all good gifts come...it means he has nevertheless remained true to his love.... He who lacks this romanticism has sold his soul, whether he received a kingdom for it or a paltry piece of silver."
It's quite something to witness two very distant characters in history speak about the importance of such notions--and perhaps, for different reasons.
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