Sententia (sen-ten’-ti-a): One of several terms describing short, pithy sayings. Others include adage, apothegem, gnome, maxim, paroemia, and proverb.
“Stop Trying”
Yes, that’s the ticket. “If you’re tryin’ you’re dyin’” is a variation on the words of wisdon uttered by the ancient Roman philosopher Claudius Defectum. His book of sayings “Cedere” (“Give Up”) led to the fall of the Roman Empire. It will never have that regime-changing influence today, but it still inspires countless people to accept their mediocrity, or worse.
You can find Defectum’s collection of sayings in the back pockets of men and women settled, carefree, on cardboard pads, holding and waving empty styrofoam cups. They have shifted the rationale of their “trying” from greed and acquisition to the godly glow of begging. They have reduced their striving to the bare minimum— giving up and going on. A wonderful yoking of opposites that may motivate them to ask “Spare change?” as they pursue the limitless possibilities of living carefree in an alley or abandoned car. They’ve given up!
I gave up ten years ago. Fresh out of college, I went to work for a company making pearl snaps for cowboy shirts. I wasn’t a cowboy, but I could appreciate their need for shirts with or pearl snaps. Say, your shirt got caught on a cactus, you would just unsnap it and set yourself free. Or say, you’re riding the trail and you want to cool off. With your free hand, you can just unsnap your shirt, letting the cooling breeze blow across your chest.
I was put in charge of our Laotian snap factory. We churned out 5,000 snaps per day. My goal was 12,000. I had arrived at that number randomly by saying number out loud. “12,000” had a melodious tone to it—it almost had a poetic ring. I was drawn to it like a cow to grass or a fork-load of steak to my mouth.
I figured all I needed to do was make our machines go faster. The faster they went, the more snaps they’d make. “Faster! Faster,” I yelled. Everybody just looked at me and laughed. My translator told me they were calling me “silly man” behind my back. I took away their daily ration of Lao-Lao. They brought their own. I neglected to realize that home-brewing is extremely popular in Laos. My sanctions went on and on, ending with Tasering slow workers. Anyway, nothing worked, so after reading “Cedere” one more time and punching the walls in my room, I gave up. I stopped trying.
I felt a deep sense of relief and freedom. I slept like a baby. When I announced the next day that our new goal was 3,000 snaps per day, I became a hero. Sadly, I was fired for bringing the snap quota down, but I didn’t care. I went back to the States and got a job working at a Salvation Army Thrift Store. I was in charge of glassware. I did what I was told to do and had renounced all pretenses to promotion.
I had given up, and it felt damn good.
Definitions courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
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