(While still on the subject of Nietzsche, see yesterday’s post…)
I, of course, refer to my friend and philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche whom I happened to run into the other day on the #5 bus going to the beach. Freddy, as his friends address him, said the following, “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.” It seems he must have been referring to Vampires, *(I know he was a huge Buffy fan while I found Willow Rosenberg much more alluring, a topic of many a good natured argument between us). When you lose a fight to a vampire you do become a vampire whereas if you lose a fight to Godzilla you are a mere appetizer and gone forever.
There are those who believe Nietzsche was actually saying that in any type of altercation, verbal, mental or physical, strive to maintain your humanity even when your adversary does not. Sure. How many people can we name that live or lived by that? Jesus, Gandhi…Gandhi…Jesus…Ga…certainly none of us on Facebook!
We can learn many life-altering lessons from important quotes. Here are a few that are much more to our liking and easier to follow: “All’s fair in love and war.” “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing!” “Tuesday is Senior Discount Day, proof of age required.”