Good word suggestion: suffrage

[Winblad]

Hi everybody -

How about suffrage for a good word? Has it anything to do with suffer? (I apologize for this very likely stupid question - still, I wonder).

Many thanks in advance
Winblad

[Perry Lassiter]

No question is stupid if you are genuinely seeking an answer. The two words do not appear to be related nor come from the same lineage. Suffer comes from latin sub + ferro, to under carry or carry under. Its basic meaning is to make one endure something unpleasant like death or judgment.

Suffrage-suffrage (n.)
late 14c., "prayers or pleas on behalf of another," from Old French suffrage (13c.), from Medieval Latin suffragium, from Latin suffragium "support, vote, right of voting," from suffragari "lend support, vote for someone," from sub "under" (see sub-) + fragor "crash, din, shouts (as of approval)," related to frangere "to break" (see fraction). The meaning "right to vote" is first found in the U.S. Constitution, 1787. From Etym online.

[Winblad]

Dear Perry -

Many, many thanks for your message and your time!
With all my best regards and wishes

Ruth / Winblad

[Philip Hudson]

Jesus said in the King James Version, the one endorsed by Peter and Paul: "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God." As a small child, I debated in my mind the meaning of the word “suffer”. I knew the other meaning. When I was first aware of suffrage as the right to vote, the difference became clear to me.

[Winblad]

How interesting! Many thanks!
Incidentally, there is a similar meaning in German, where "to suffer" means "leiden". "Jemanden gut leiden können" means to like or even love somebody very much.
Best regards from Germany
Winblad/Ruth

[Perry Lassiter]

You've been so nice to us, I shall venture to ask Fraulein Ruth a question. Why MUST we imagine Sysiphus happy? Sure we can, but we can also imagine him in constant frustration, like Charlie Brown trying to kick a football.

[Philip Hudson]

Charlie Brown is a reincarntion of Sysiphus.

[Winblad]

Hello Perry and Philip –

Thanks for your interest. I will try to give you a reasonably brief answer.

You know of course that I have stolen this sentence from Albert Camus and that it is the second part of a statement in his "Myth of Sisyphus". The first part says that "the struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart."

Sisyphus accepts his ordeal and is hoping against hope – a very human trait – that if only he repeats this act often enough he will eventually succeed.

Unhappiness arises when you find yourself in a situation that you are unable to accept and you wish it were different but don't do anything about it. If you accept the situation you're in (because it's reality and a fact) and make an effort to change it, you can't be unhappy because you have a purpose.

As for Charlie Brown (whom I like but don't really know well enough to judge his approach to life in general etc.): Why shouldn't he act like Sisyphus or even be his reincarnation? People have acted like him at all times. Of course not everybody, but quite a few.

All I can say is, when I first read Camus' statement (which was many years ago) I was struck by it immediately and it has since become sort of my life's motto, which is why it can be read at the bottom of my posts at the alpha agora.

Best regards!!
Winblad / Ruth

[Perry Lassiter]

Excellent! With yr permission I may steal the idea for an inspirational series I write for now and then. I also thought of Victor Frankl, an existential psychiatrist who survived a Nazi concentration camp. He strongly contends that, while you can't always change your circumstances, you can choose your attitude toward them.

[Winblad]

Hello Perry!

What a wonderful idea! Thank you! I would love to hear more about it. Will you write a book? Or are you sending out newsletters? Or what?

And Victor Frankl – here you have an incredible example of someone who would not be defeated by circumstances (I apologize profoundly for the simplification) and instead not only freed himself from the prison of his thoughts but tried to help others to do the same.

A very dear friend of mine (now 91) survived two concentration camps, managed to flee from the second one and joined the French Foreign Legion because this was his only option if he wanted to survive.

I'm a bit under the pressure of time for several reasons, but if you are sending out newsletters – would you please consider me as a subscriber?

All the best in every respect

Ruth