Waffles?

"People who spend a lot of their lives reading books as I was doing find, after a time, that they prefer reading about things to actually seeing them." From John Carey, The Unexpected Professor, a book which I have not read and doubt I will ever read, but was reviewed in the last issue of The New Criterion, which I did read over lunch on what is turning out to be a lazy Independence Day in which no members of my family seem to be able to shake off overwhelming feelings of Indolence (indeed, two of said Family members have still not arisen from their nighttime slumbers as of 1:00 (pm, not am)).  Of course, the right to sleep through the 4th of July is exactly one of the reasons there was an American Revolution in the first place. George III surely would not approve, but we Americans don't have to care about what he would think.  Give me liberty (to slumber), or give me death.  (Bonus note: this is what Hamlet meant when he said, "to die, to sleep".  Hamlet was an American Revolutionary.)

The quotation which led off this here ruminations was particularly piquant.  Yesterday's post, coyly entitled "Belgian Musings," but having nothing to do with Belgium per se, provoked a sharp retort from Meggie.  Well, technically the retort was neither sharp nor, truth be told, necessarily even a retort, but coming from Meggie it was bracing.  So, what about that trip to Belgium?

Three friends of mine (in different conversations) gave me specific advice on what I should do when I was in Belgium.  One friend, a historian (not an historian, hard h when pronounced properly), told me all about the sites in Leuven which were particularly significant in the life of Herbert Hoover.  He gave me several locations to check out while I was there.   Another friend, who recently returned from a jaunting tour of Europe, told me how I should wander through the street markets and find waffles.   A third friend, a cultured and vastly experienced world traveler, gave me shopping advice, down to the very stores I should visit, the storekeepers to whom I should talk, and the purchases I should make.

So, I spent my time in Belgium with a vague sense of guilt that I was not doing the things my friends suggested I should do.  I did make it to the outside of one of the sites of historical importance, I did find a waffle, and I did visit one of the stores to buy gifts for my family. But, I am afraid that all three of my friends would be sorely disappointed if they knew how little of their advice I had taken.  Actually, that's not accurate. All three of them knew I wouldn't really take their advice.

And the Carey quotation above, which I just stumbled across this Independence Day, not only makes me feel better with the realization that I am not alone in such things, but more importantly reminds me that I have been endowed by my Creator with certain inalienable rights, and that among these is the right to prefer to read about Belgium than to visit Belgium.