Reprise-- Had an algebra teacher, Mrs. Croft. Shed step back from it all and ask us to see the beauty of the thing itself. Look at this. This is always true. I got a C that year, first grade in math above F or D. And I took it with me, that stepping back, into my working life as a teacher. So. Take a step back and look at how beautiful it is, what you are aiming to do. You are taking part in one of the greatest miracles of human life: the triadic event, the linguists call it. We do it as a species; at its lowest level, it is nothing more than gossip: two minds concerned with a third thing. But look where it leads. Homer in 700 BC, writing about Hector with his shiny helmet on, and his baby son doesnt recognize him and is frightened, and so Hector, who has to die and knows it, takes the helmet off so the boy can see his father. And it breaks our hearts to read it, here, in 2015, and the mind that made it up was dust 700 years before Christ walked the earth. Think of it--think what you are involved in: that ancient mind is speaking to us from two thousand seven hundred years ago. It was ancient writing when Shakespeare was composing those plays. And it is this very miracle that defines us as a species; it cheats time and distance and cultural variance and death itself. And when you try to write you are taking part in that miracle no matter what else you call it. You are not different in kind than anyone who ever tried to do it. This is why I say celebrate it. Be glad of the good fortune of having the will and what time there is and the gift of having it to do, no matter how hard a time it may be giving you. It is a generous and loving act of grace, not an indulgence. The indulgences are what you give up to do it.
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 21:31:57 +0000
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