House-Elf Justice (was Re: Kreacher - workable solutions?)

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 129604

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Katherine Coble <k.coble at c...> 
wrote:
> 
> On May 27, 2005, at 3:08 PM, a_svirn wrote:
> 
> > --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Laura Ingalls Huntley
> >  <lhuntley at f...> wrote:
> >  > a_svirn:
> >  > > And I must say I cannot
> >  > > agree with your unconventional construction of the
> >  word "servant".
> >  > > Neither would Dobby, by the way – he calls himself 
an "employee".
> >  >
> >  > Unconventional construction?  I hardly think the definition 
of the
> >  word
> >  > itself could be called "unconventional".  There is a *huge*
> >  difference
> >  > between being a slave and being a servant, the most important 
of
> >  which
> >  > is that a servant is *free*.  I agree that the idea of serving
> >  others
> >  > as a career has been demonized by Western culture, but the 
fact
> >  remains
> >  > that a servant is by no means a slave.
> >  >
> >  > Don't make me go get a dictionary. ^_~
> >  >
> >  > Laura
> >  > http://www.livejournal.com/users/laurahuntley
> >
> >
> >  I do claim that saying: "to be a servant is actually to be of 
help
> >  or of service to someone in need" is unconventional. I defy you 
to
> >  find such a meaning in any dictionary.
> >
> >  a_svirn
> >
> 
> K:  But we should all be servants to our fellow human beings.  
> Demonized though the concept has become.   I understand that Laura 
is 
> using a very arcane definition of "servant", but one which finds 
itself 
> expressed throughout Judeo-Christian literature.
> 

Could you perhaps elaborate a bit? Was there an eleventh commandment 
added to the Decalogue recently? "Thau shalt be of service to thy 
neighbor?" (Although servants are mentioned in the 10th aren't they? 
As a "*thing* that is thy neighbor's" (emphasis mine). 

a_svirn