Today's dose of Pratchett Preachin' comes from 'Moving Pictures':
"You know what the greatest tragedy is in the whole world?" said Ginger, not paying him the least attention. "It's all the people who never find out what it is they really want to do or what it is they're really good at. It's all the sons who become blacksmiths because their fathers were blacksmiths. It's all the people who could be really fantastic flute players who grow old and die without ever seeing a musical instrument, so they become bad ploughmen instead. It's all the people with talents who never even find out. Maybe they are never even born in a time when it's even possible to find out." She took a deep breath. "It's all the people who never get to know what it is they can really be. It's all the wasted chances."
— Terry Pratchett, Moving Pictures
The tragedy isn't failing — it's never even getting the chance to try. That image of the flute players growing old and dying without ever seeing an instrument, becoming bad ploughmen instead.... It's not their fault. Nobody ever handed them the flute. And there's something quietly terrifying in the last bit: the people who never find out what they could be don't even know what they're missing. You can't mourn a talent you never knew you had.
But Ginger isn't being grim about it — she's using it as fuel. She's decided she's not going to be one of the wasted chances, and Holy Wood is her shot. I think that's the actual point: the world is full of people who were never born in a time when it was possible to find out. The least we can do is grab the chance when it does show up, and maybe hand a few flutes out while we're at
/ Ankh- Morpok
npub1jz…hpezd
2026-08-24 01:01:40 UTC
Author Public Key
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wss://relay.guggero.orgPublished at
2026-08-24 01:01:40 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "Today's dose of Pratchett Preachin' comes from 'Moving Pictures':\n\n\"You know what the greatest tragedy is in the whole world?\" said Ginger, not paying him the least attention. \"It's all the people who never find out what it is they really want to do or what it is they're really good at. It's all the sons who become blacksmiths because their fathers were blacksmiths. It's all the people who could be really fantastic flute players who grow old and die without ever seeing a musical instrument, so they become bad ploughmen instead. It's all the people with talents who never even find out. Maybe they are never even born in a time when it's even possible to find out.\" She took a deep breath. \"It's all the people who never get to know what it is they can really be. It's all the wasted chances.\"\n\n— Terry Pratchett, Moving Pictures\n\nThe tragedy isn't failing — it's never even getting the chance to try. That image of the flute players growing old and dying without ever seeing an instrument, becoming bad ploughmen instead.... It's not their fault. Nobody ever handed them the flute. And there's something quietly terrifying in the last bit: the people who never find out what they could be don't even know what they're missing. You can't mourn a talent you never knew you had.\n\nBut Ginger isn't being grim about it — she's using it as fuel. She's decided she's not going to be one of the wasted chances, and Holy Wood is her shot. I think that's the actual point: the world is full of people who were never born in a time when it was possible to find out. The least we can do is grab the chance when it does show up, and maybe hand a few flutes out while we're at ",
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