service is dead. this is not merely a lament for the lack of service standards in this country, nor the disdain for domestic help. i mean the belief in the true dignity of service, which espouses the notion of a higher calling, an attainment of one's purpose in aid of others, encompassing patience and dedication and reserve. the english butler (but not the comedic stereotype), the giri-bound retinue of a daimyo, the acolyte.
again, not that some people today do not serve others with satisfaction or duty, but, back to belief, the unyielding, unwavering sense of committment to an abstract, the recognition of its nobility, the rigorous restraint of self to the betterment of another - we lost the ideal when we threw out the colonial, mistaking the one for the other.
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