On Petitio Principii:

[Shanalorm]

On Petitio Principii

Once a boy asked me
'Why can I not be mad
Yet always must be calm?'
And I said to him: 'Lad

Anger will not get you anywhere
It only hurts us there'
Pointing at his heart and head
He asked: 'What makes anger bad?'

I could not answer that
And thought for quite some time
The answer came to me
It came to me in rhyme:

'Pain is never good for you nor anyone
The worst is that this pain cannot be undone
Words make wounds in your verry soul
That can't be mend to whole.'

The boy thought, then asked again:
'So anger causes pain
And pain cannot be good?'
I thought he was insane

'Then why can't pain be good?'
'Because it never should.'
'Why should it never be?'
'It hurts, now can't you see?'

The kid could see
but failed to understand
That anger damages much
More even than resent

It simply is that way
But he could not yet see
The way with morality
Is just a petitio principii

___________________
A Petitio Principii is the latin
name for a circle-argument,
a way to say someting is that
because something is that.

I wrote this because I wonder
How to explain a kid about
moral and stuf. I think that
would be a rather difficult
thing. Then again, what kid
would ask me to explain?

[Adam]

i enjoyed reading your poem :)

[Madzia]

Petitio Principii well-described, Shanalorm:) Conversations with children always amaze me; children ask such questions! I often have the same problem - how to explain this moral stuff to children? You did it well; if one day a child asks you you will know how to answer ;)It's philosophical and very wise, I really enjoyed this.

[Shanalorm]

To begin with the fact that I hardly ever talk to small children...
What kind of children were you?

I was introduced to school for the first time (mind you 4 years old)
And said: Goodmorning madam, how are you?
I had my desert because my parents couldn't dissagree with me...
-That kind of kid.

Anyway, Thanks for the responses!

[Madzia]

I have a godson aged 4, so we've got plenty of opportunities "to talk". I was a very quiet and polite child. People were thinking I was a boy, looked like one for some time and I preferred to play with cars than with dolls. And everyone was thinking that I was older than I really was. That kind of child:)

[Shanalorm]

Ah, the Lyra-type, if you read His Dark Materials