I am Richard Daniel Chennault and I’ve never been more proud of being French than the day I finished reading the Social Contract and discourses of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. I know the French are not universally loved throughout the world like Americans (that is sarcasm for you neophyte Anglophones). Indeed my own genetic background is from a tree of many branches despite my rich Ozark heritage.
The only French thing that I can truly call authentic is my last name. However I’m still proud to know my family once hailed from the glorious France. I know some Francophobes are shaking in their trenches at the thought of another proud Frenchman manning the line. Or perhaps cadres of secret Francophiles are a flutter at the thought of another suave Frenchman ready to swoon their hearts. They all may rest assured I am neither to much of one to be feared or enough of the other to be overly loved because of my French heritage.
So why the pronouncement of French fever or fervor? I must say it is because Rousseau was a wonderful writer and throughout his works he wrote prose of such magnificence that I felt compelled to write my own ode to Rousseau.
So over the coming weeks my postings will include a peppering of Rousseau quotes to underscore what it is I’m pontificating on at the moment. So for now I say, c’est la vie and leave you with a quote from Rousseau referring to the inscription on the Temple of Delphi
“And I will venture to say, the single inscription on the Temple of Delphi contained a precept more difficult and more important than is to be found in all the huge volumes that moralist have ever written.” — Jean-Jacques Rousseau
“Know Thyself” – Temple of Delphi