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

[Katherine Coble]

No: HPFGUIDX 129639


On May 28, 2005, at 2:17 PM, a_svirn wrote:

> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Katherine Coble <k.coble at c...>
>  wrote:
>  >
>  > On May 27, 2005, at 3:58 PM, a_svirn wrote:
>  >
>  > > --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Katherine Coble
>  <k.coble at c...>
>  > >  wrote:
>  > >
>  > >  >
>  > >  > 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
>  > >
>  > >
>  > >
>  >
>  > K:  Well, first in the bibles themselves.....
>  >
>  > How about the book of Phillippians, which discusses humility,
>  chiefly
>  > the humility of Christ?  Then there is the entire book of
>  Philemon,
>  > which concerns the slave Onesimus and how he is to be treated by
>  his
>  > master.    Or, perhaps looking for an even older reference, how
>  about
>  > Proverbs 31, where the virtuous woman is one who gets up early and
>  > serves her household--including those that are in her employ.
>  > <snip>
>
>  a_svirn:
>  And where is the difference between these interpretations of the
>  word `servant' and the one that, say, Lucius Malfoy favoured? I see
>  nothing "arcane" in your examples. The same conventional meaning
>  as `somebody who serves another, perfoming menial tasks'.
>
>

K:
It's the concept that performing any kind of service can make you a 
servant of someone--the task doesn't need to be menial.   Take for 
example the overused American term "Public Servant".  One wouldn't 
consider the Mayor of a town to be performing a menial task, yet he is 
performing in service of another person or group of persons.   That 
definition seems to be slowly rendered arcane as people continue to 
view servitude as an inferior position.   Laura and I both seem to be 
saying that servitude can take many forms and not need be referring 
only to menial tasks.




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]