Not partial to partial victory

"Because as every good activist Canadian knows, admitting partial victory constitutes defeat."

-- Chris Selley

You don' t have to be Canadian, or even an activist -- I knew back when I was still just an American schoolgirl that some people thought this way. That "That's not good enough!", if repeated too often, stops sounding like a stern but fair evaluation and starts sounding like a tiny kid's whining. Just as my father's voice, snapping out at me, sounds higher and more nasal every time I remember it.

But it's one of those sins I can easily get "caustic" about, as Fr. Vincent Hawkswell says, because I'm not much tempted to it myself.   

I'm more tempted to try to disguise defeat as partial victory. Which is good enough for me, right?

Or to try to tell myself and everyone else that I don't need victory, it's stupid and I wouldn't like it anyway. Like those grapes I can't reach . . .

Usual compulsive Bomb Girls post

Well, let's see, last week was all about people in strange new places. German POW's at large in Toronto, Vera at the Posh Ladies' Club, some woman I'd never seen before (supposed to be an upstairs neighbour? Maybe this bit was originally written for Edith) making herself at home in Lorna's kitchen, Dr. "Just Call Me Ned" Patel at Lorna's roast beef dinner, Lorna's son Eugene missing from that same dinner and turning up at the girls' rooming house, and finally pale redheaded Kate singing in the choir at Leon's all-black church.

Carol said the worst thing yet to Vera and got smacked down by the Head Posh Lady. "Miss Demers! Any shoulder put to the wheel is one worthy of respect!"  I can just imagine her answering "If you insist, ma'am, I'll respect her shoulder. One of them. The rest of her, however . . ."

Was that a turning point for Carol, or is she just going to be the Major Frank Burns of Victory Munitions?

And as the Head Posh Lady has taken a liking to Vera, I really hope she gives Vera some mentoring on how to be not completely tacky.

Line of the Day

In response to a talk I gave (by request) on "how marriage helps me live my faith":

"Thank you, Eunike, you make me gladder than ever that I'm single."

Things I wanted to post about while we were offline

• I admit to having done my spiritual exercises on the bus.
• I also took out my resentment at having to be at a meeting with a school district committee by going through a language arts teacher's statement and circling all the spelling and grammar mistakes. There were eight, in less than a page. I left it there as it was when I went.
• A businessman in Texas is trying to get over his fear of rejection by asking strangers to do silly things he figures they'll refuse. I was afraid I'd read this and feel I had to try something like it myself. But it turns out lots of them unexpectedly say sure, like the cop who let him sit in the driver's seat of the squad car. So is it working? Well, he's learning a lot . . . 
• (Get ready for multiple links.) In this post, this reader asked Charlotte if she'd heard lately about anything "very cool that someone has done or is doing - something that makes me sit up and thank God for making my fellow human beings so brilliant or loving or insightful". If someone had asked me, I'd have mentioned this blog post on how the blogger's mother paints portraits of people who've died tragically and sends them to the families -- "to do something in her own small way to push back against the darkness". 

Comics respect life (sort of)

Human peanuts in Doonesbury . . . and Mary Worth endorses NFP, though of course she calls it by its old name.

Catholic Universe?

Such A Pretty Bubble provokes thought again, this time on whether a subset of American Catholics is letting its religion turn into more of a brand -- about getting the right look, the right toys and videos for your kids, the right whatever. I'm not commenting simply because I've lived away from the U.S. so long, and Catholicism is in a different position in Canada -- different, also, in French Canada than "English" Canada.

What I do want to say here: What's the intention behind starting up acceptably Catholic businesses/industries? Just to have decent choices to make for our families? Or to construct a parallel Catholic universe where we can feel we're not of the world, but hey, not missing any of the fun either?

As I've mentioned, I edit for a secular company. Even so, my job sometimes means cleaning up writers' language. It's partly to keep the advertisers happy and partly because we just don't want to be that kind of site. There are plenty of them already. Would I be doing more good working for Catholic media? I don't think so. We have a part in keeping the outer world clean too.

Findings

Bomb Girls night again -- last week was all about people finding things.

• Marco found his dad had developed Fascist tendencies during his internment (which will now probably last for the duration, what with old Mr. Moretti throwing his arm up and yelling "Viva Il Duce!" in front of the guards).
• Kate found a bottle of booze in the desk in the warehouse.
• Betty found God. (But I hope Leon's not turning into a Magical Negro.)
• Lorna found that, as she told Mr. Aikins, "Witham and Moretti both booked off without permission." Also, nobody liked her "life skills seminar" (did they even use those words back then?) on how to grind up beef tongue into your meatloaf and pass it off as sirloin.
• Vera found that there were soldiers even she wouldn't want to go with. Or, at least, that she'd feel sorry she'd gone with.
• Bob found a new career as an entrepreneur.
• One of Bob and Lorna's sons found his way home on a war bond tour.
• I found out why Gladys went with Marco and his mama to the internment camp: They needed her to drive them.

Now -- who was that "some guy" who interrogated Marco all night, then let him go after getting a phone call? Anyone we'd recognize? Not Gladys' fiancé, he's American -- maybe her other fiancé?