En sommardag med 28 plusgrader. Då trojaner hittades samt kvartfinal i fotboll (Argentina - Tyskland) - men jag måste möta upp i Nynäshamn, och missar därför denna match...
Die Wahrheit kann auf viele Arten verschwiegen und auf viele Arten gesagt werden.
Bertolt Brecht, 1938Gedichte im Exil:
1940
Mein junger Sohn fragt mich: Soll ich Mathematik lernen? Wozu, möchte ich sagen. Daß zwei Stück Brot mehr ist als eines. Das wirst du auch so merken. Mein junger Sohn fragt mich: Soll ich Französisch lernen? Wozu, möchte ich sagen: Dieses Reich geht unter. Und Reibe du nur mit der Hand den Bauch und stöhne Und man wird dich schon verstehen. Mein junger Sohn fragt mich: Soll ich Geschichte lernen? Wozu, möchte ich sagen. Lerne du deinen Kopf in die Erde stecken Da wirst du vielleicht übrigbleiben. Ja, lerne Mathematik, sage ich Lerne Französisch, lerne Geschichte!
Paul Cézanne
I am proud of my race (he pronounced it "[peroud?]"). Sweden is the cleanest country, you know. The Swedish people are clean, they have high principles and standards of living. There are no slums in Sweden. No slums at all, see? And the lowest percent venereal disease of any country. This country is the worst for that, you know. Yes, and Barre is the worst in Vermont for that. In Sweden they cleaned it right out in ten years. The government did it. It's the only way... You know how they did it? By making it public, everything out in the open. By teaching people and conquering ignorance. It is not to be hidden and ashamed of. That's what causes disease like in this country. Over there the government instructs the parents, fathers instruct their sons, mothers instruct their daughters. If a case is not reported you can go to jail for two years, you know. Yes, I am proud of my race.
I come from southern Sweden -- near [Gotoberg?]. All flat agriculture land there, flat like out west in this country. Some industrial towns, some seaports, but the land is all flat for agriculture. I was twenty when I came with some others. We had jobs before we started. I never thought I'd cut stone -- but I have for eleven years. When I saw stones in graveyards at home, you know, they meant nothing, just stones. I didn't want to be a stonecutter but it's the only thing here. If you have no education you must have a trade. You got to have a trade. Then you have something they can't take away from you, see?
I learned to be a polisher, to finish the stone after it's sawed and surfaced, before it goes to be carved. Most of the finishing is done by machine, you've seen the big machines they use. I run one of those. Sometimes the stone has to be hand-polished afterwards. Yes, eleven years of it for me now...
And I never thought I'd be a stonecutter. But after you get started you don't want to take something with lower pay, you know. I'm glad I've got a trade... It's not so bad in the sheds now. The vacuums take the dust away. The vacuums they have now work good. [These?] masks were no good at all, I never used one. The fine dust, almost like air, went through them just the same and they were hot and choking. The vacuums suck up that fine dust, the vacuums are safe. There's no need of a man being killed in the sheds now -- if he's careful. Some of the old men don't care, they won't try to be careful. Probably it's in them already and they know it, because when they started the dust was very bad.
I learned English here in night school. I started as soon as I got here. That's another thing the Swedes do, you know. If you're going to live in a country you should know the language. The Italians and Spanish come here and it's two generations before they're speaking English, see? But the Swedes want to learn it right away when they get here.
I like it here, I have a good time. I have learned more here than I would in Sweden. No, I don't want to go back to Sweden to live. I'd like to go back to see my mother, she's still living over there. I'd like to see her and other people of mine. But I like it all right here to live.
Hoppas jag har hela essän kvar; försök på stenhuggaren
