A human comedy. A beggars opera. A dumpster tong. Philanthropists are welcome, but only if they come in masquerade as paupers not a prince, a peddler of pots and pans, an insurance salesman, a teller of tales, a poet. Despite the very different "provenance," I believe what Lohmann is articulating is very much in the spirit of Peter's work: gifts and gifted givers for a vital and creative community. If The World We Want were a play, it would end with as comedies do, with difficulties overcome, enemies reconciled, a marriage, songs, a feast and a dance where peasants and king all clasp hands and dance in a ring, a celebration of human life, and natural fertility. I like that thought better than "the end of history," the Rapture, or the collapse of the ecosystem.
Imagine the Stillness at Kykuit broken by the sounds of boisterous citizens in masquerade, not Halloween, not revolution, but a reassertion of love and fidelity that binds us as a human family, rich and poor. I believe Peter would be of that company. Come dawn, and the onset of sobriety, we all return to our serried ranks, by status and role. But don't we ache, all of us, or very many, for our common humanity?
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