An Encounter with a Quotation Enthusiast
Posted on Tuesday, 22 December 2015
An
Encounter with a Quotation Enthusiast
By Apolinario Villalobos
I really do not know what to call the guy I
met through another friend. He loves to quote other people and I admire his
memory for he can even quote historical personages, with their sayings that I
must admit are strange to me. We exchanged notes on blog subjects as he is also
a blogger in his own right, though constrained by his busy schedule in their
company as Operations Director. Practically, our styles do not have even a
single similarity. While his blogs are full of “according to”, “as…..says”, or
quotation marks, mine are simply stated and based on my own experience. However,
we found out that two of our blogs tackled similar subjects.
We are both fond of history and biography.
While I take note and absorb the essence of what I have read and tend to forget
about the books later because of my short memory, he patiently takes note of statements
of personages. While I am my own self in the course of our banter, his
obsession shows no end about the personalities as he interjected quoted
statements in our conversation which impressed me a lot. His memory is
admirable.
He proudly told me about the “Tadhana…the
story of the Filipino People”, supposedly written by Ferdinand Marcos. He also
told me about the ancient books written by Greek philosophers, reprinted copies
of which he found in a famous library in the United States. He even mentioned
about Kahlil Gibran, and many more. I was humbled because although, I have read
many books, I honestly could not recall their titles and authors, not even the
history books that I was required to read as a high school and college student.
I practically forgot about them.
I was dazed by the quotations that he
impressed on me. All I could contribute was the “Golden Rule”, the author of which
I do not even know. Throughout our conversation, I was further humbled with my
AB course, earned from a then, struggling parochial school, when he bragged
about his Master’s Degree earned from a university in the United States. But he
slipped when he confirmed the fact that some students really copy/paste
paragraphs from research materials. He admitted that he committed the same when
he was in college. To further our conversation, I told him that I blogged about
it a year ago, under the title “Plagiarism” a subject which also included
plagiarized photographs and paintings.
My encounter with the guy, made me ask the
question on why some people have to quote others, even on simple subjects such
as love, kindness loyalty, life, corruption, etc. when all they need to do is
bring out their own experience or look around them for the needed input. Why go
to the pain, for instance, of quoting Mother Theresa or the new pope about
compassion, love and charity when they can write about it based on the
relationships that prevail among the members of their family or community? I
cannot understand why they have to quote famous names when they write about
corruption when all they need to do is open their eyes to what are happening
around them, and quote philanthropists when they write about poverty and other
deprivations in life, when all they need to do is throw a glance at families
living on sidewalks and whose sustenance come from garbage dumps.
However, if these “quoters” cannot help it,
they should also try to absorb what they quote and put them into practice. I
presume that the reason the quotes caught their attention is that they are
relevant, hence, worth remembering. But if they persist on just mumbling them
to impress others, they become hollow “amplifier” of others. They cease to act
as intelligent creatures who are supposed to use to the fullest what God gave
them, by bringing out what are in their own mind, although, in most probability
may be related to those of others.
Also, I am not saying that quoting others
is wrong. What I am trying to imply is that, it should be done only when
necessary, especially, when one is trying his best to emphasize his point, as
quotes, especially, of reputable historical personages can help in the
confirmation of ideas being presented.
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