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Monthly Archives: July 2017

Character

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A busy day demands a summer re-run.  News is coming soon.  In the meantime, enjoy this post from 2010, unedited.  Yes, I did say this back then without even meaning to predict any particular person.

Stories that stay with us are often built around strong characters.  Consider for a moment any story that you have enjoyed, either in book form or on film or from an exchange among friends – what is it that you remember the most?  Odds are it will be the Harry Potter or Gatsby or someone’s strange uncle as much as the meanderings of the plot itself.  They are the star of the show, the person we either relate to or want to be like or at least would like to know.  Set them up, and the situation of the plot often moves forward through the force of their will.

Less obvious is fact that this also guides the non-fiction world.  Entertainers carefully craft their public persona, as do politicians and even nooze commentators.  Understanding how to do this can make a blog much more compelling.

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Cottonwood Witnesses

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The cottonwoods are tall and scraggly, leaning over each other as shaking hands in friendship. This is their world, a place where they can stand undisturbed by little more than a few hikers and the buzz of motorboats. Their size alone gives them an authority that allows them to speak silently, telling stories about their world that reach back over the centuries. This is Pike Island, an small speck in the Mississippi that has been allowed to go back to the way it was two centuries ago when Europeans first arrived.

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-Isms

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The suffix -ism is one of those handy things inherited from the versatile Greek language. The original usage was the creation of an active noun from a verb, such as baptism or criticism. It makes an action into a thing, allowing it to become a subject or object.

More recently, this suffix has taken on the use of defining a philosophy, often a political practice. It is a way of taking a series of beliefs or practices and putting them into a box which can be delivered as one unique practice. Far from making an active subject, in practical terms it becomes most useful as a way of preventing any action at all.

The great -isms of political economics are Socialism and Capitalism. The boxes these words describe were fixed long ago and remain rigid. Yet they retain their power to an opposing tribe and thus remain in use. It’s long past time to dump the -isms, useful as this linguistic construction once was.

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Independence

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The tour guide at Independence Hall knew how to warm up the crowd. “What states have you come from to visit us here today?” “Missouri!” “New York!” “Minnesota!” We called out, mentally hi-fiving each other as we proudly called our names. Then, she shifted gears. “Who is here from another nation?” “Japan.” “Britain.” “Russia.” She stepped up to the last man and practically begged him for more. “What brought you here today?” Slowly, in halting English, the man from Russia proudly and carefully produced his words. “This is the birthplace of Freedom. This is where Freedom began.”

The previously bubbly Americans were silent and respectful the whole tour. This wasn’t just our hallowed hall, this was our gift. This was what made us a truly great nation.

On this Independence Day the birthplace of freedom stands divided as it has not been for a long time. We are at each other’s throats, fighting and scrapping for every small victory. No tour guide could shut us up and make us respectful – this is personal. What got us to this point?

We have forgotten who we are. We have forgotten our great gift. We have forsaken our soul.

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