By Dario Poli.
In my years of working, creating and studying as and when I could, I tried to apply certain standards to my own life, especially when battling to overcome the daily problems of life I had to face within my own world and as I often faced rude and quite aggressive personalities, who thought little of insulting me or others who could or would not agree with them.
My interest in good manners and the skills of diplomacy evolved from these unfortunate experiences and I began to learn that there were many more interesting and even pleasant ways of getting one’s point of view across to another human being without recourse to the aggressive or vulgar.
I discovered that by using diplomacy and tact in a proportionate and appropriate manner, lead to improved relationships with other people and was a way to build and develop mutual respect, which in turn lead me to more successful outcomes and less awkward or stressful communications as I grew to understand, that diplomacy were skills based on an comprehension of other people and being sensitive to their opinions, ideas, feelings and beliefs.
I found this wonderful piece of philosophical writing by E.M. Forster that was close to my inner being, as it eloquently expressed my regard for diplomacy. So I felt it was time to share it with you. Dario Poli.
“I believe in aristocracy though, if that is the right word and if a democrat may use it. Not an aristocracy of power based upon rank and influence, but an aristocracy of the sensitive, the considerate and the plucky. Its members are to be found in all nations and classes and all through the ages and there is a secret understanding between them when they meet. They represent the true human condition, the one permanent victory of our queer race over cruelty and chaos.“ From a 1941 essay by E.M. Forster.
My favourite quote of E.M.Forster is; “If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country”.
Short biography of E.M. Forster
Edward Morgan Forster OM CH, better known by his pen name E. M. Forster, was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist and librettist who was born in 1 January 1879 died on the 7th June 1970. He was best known for his ironic and well-thought out novels that examined and exposed the class difference and hypocrisy in early 20th-century British society. Forster’s instinctive impulse toward humanistic, sympathetic understanding, may be summed up in the epigraph to his 1910 novel Howards End: “Only connect”.
His 1908 novel, A Room with a View, is his most optimistic work, while A Passage to India (1924) brought him his greatest success. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 16 different years
- Movies: Maurice: A Room with a View, Howards End, A Passage to India, Where Angels Fear to Tread, A Diary for Timothy, Plug.
- Short stories: The Machine Stops, The Other Side of the Hedge, The Other Boat, The Life to Come
