There is no paucity (paw-si-tee) of ink pens in my house. I save them even when they are no longer functional. I've never counted them because they have many hiding places. However, this fact definitely conveys a sense of 'too-much-ness.'
Christmas time, for me, reestablishes vivid images of contrast, like the tree lights reflecting off the gold and silver ornaments. The contrast can be one which goes unnoticed or embraced. The sharp delineation between abundance and prosperity and the struggling meagerness of darkened hopes should be at least acknowledged, and at most move us to do our part to eliminate the paucity of hope.
Paucity is a noun meaning a smallness or fewness; scantiness; dearth. Pancite, pancitas is Middle Latin (1375-1425). It can be something less as in quantity or fewer as in number. Paucity stems from the Indo-European root, "pan" = "little"- thus the word "pauper." This can lead to the obvious connection to the contrasts in the characters' lives of Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper.
When I think of contrasts and disparities, two literary allusions are brought to my mind, the above work by Twain, and Chaucer's pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales-- especially the differences between the Oxford Cleric (student) and the Franklin (the country landowner).
The student is a picture of an exiguous existence, the Franklin , a picture of sufficiency and surfeit. The student wears clothes that are "threadbare" - the Franklin wears a "purse of silk" from his belt. The student is "skinny" and has a "hollow" visage, the Franklin likes "his morning sop of toast in wine" and has a "ruddy" complexion (visualize Santa Claus). The student has "little coin to jingle in his coffer"- the Franklin lives "in comfort." The student "never spoke a word more than needed"- the Franklin dished up and provided pleasurable "hospitality."
The contrast is notable. The Franklin had all he wanted and more, and the Student only needed what he needed. Perhaps, an inventory of our own wants and needs is warranted and can serve as a reminder of how much we do have; not just in material possessions, but in the amount and number of the gifts of goodness we should share with those living and facing a daily scarcity of security, or a paucity of food, shelter, and friends.
This holiday season prompts a renewed purpose of spirit in our hospitable opportunities. We should be luxuriously rejoicing in our generosity, and take advantage of overindulging in simple acts of kindness, striving to eliminate the paucity of comfort and joy of someone we might know, who, in spite of meager circumstances, is still humbly devoted to the spirit of Christmas.
Be satiated with the compulsion to help others who are in need; aid them to a level of sufficiency through the goodness and capacities of our gifts: makers of peace, givers of kindness, and providers of restorative concern and charity.
Be expansive and cloy with your generosity because it will dispel another's paucity of promise and hope. May we bury our fortunate prosperity onto a plate of plentiful peace, joy, and good will toward others...not just this season but all year round.
Merry Christmas, and my New Year's wish to you comes through the words of Shakespeare in "Venus and Adonis" --
"Be prodigal (generous): The lamp that burns by night
Dries up his oil to lend the world his light."
--Next post: 1/7/2016