"..respect each..human begin!"

Today’s passage is from a Russian play that is set in a derelict boarding house where a group of society's outcasts—prostitutes, thieves, casual laborers, the destitute and the derelicts—quarrel, play cards, tell stories, and bicker what the Maxim Gorki, the playwright, terms “the merits of a self-reliant existence free of illusions, versus a romanticized outlook that softens the pain of daily life.” The play is a “grimly realistic view of a desperate circle of lost souls.” In fact the term Lower Depth, in Russian Na dne, means On the Bottom.

“The Lower Depths”

“And why can't a crook at times speak the truth—since honest people at times speak like crooks? Yes—I’ve forgotten a lot—but I still know a thing or two! The old man? Oh—he’s wise! He affected me as acid affects a dirty silver coin! Let’s drink to his health! Fill the glasses…The old man lives within himself…he looks upon all the world from his own angle. Once I asked him: ‘Grand-dad, why do people live?’ And he replied: “Why, my dear fellow, people live in the hope of something better..” Each individual thinks that he’s living for his own Self, but in reality he lives in hope of something better. Every one, brothers, every one lives in the hope of something better. That’s why we must respect each and every human being! How do we know who he is, why he was born, and what he is capable of accomplishing? Perhaps his coming into the world will prove to be our good fortune…Especially must we respect little children! Children—need freedom! Don't interfere with their lives! respect children!”

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