The Storyteller

“Don’t take it personally,” the teacher told me brusquely. “It’s just that they’ve never seen anyone like you before. A man—obviously tough—who’s not a gangster.”

I don’t know how tough I am—they were fourth-graders; I guess I could’ve taken most of them in a fair fight one-on-one—but that’s not what she was getting at. Her point was that you have to take just one look at me to see what, in fact, I am: an unapologetic, because-I-said-so, head-of-household male. They used to call us “husbands” and “fathers” back in the day. That’s what these kids had never seen.

The teacher told me that she once had to explain to the class why her last name was the same as her father’s. She dusted off the whole ancient ritual of legitimacy for them—marriages, maiden names, and so on. When she was done, there was a short silence. Then one child piped up softly: “Yeah . . . I’ve heard of that.”

Read the rest of Andrew Klavan's article here.

Kindle Fan

The Kindle arrived.

For a non-techie, Kindle is a dream. The instructions are clear and it is easy to operate. I've wirelessly downloaded Robert Kagan's The Return of History and the Return of Dreams as well as Philip Bobbit's Terror and Consent: The Wars for the Twenty-First Century and am already well into the former.

Nothing replaces a regular book but Kindle is darned close and extremely convenient. The Bobbit book is a large one and lugging that tome about could have been a hassle. The fact that I now have it in a light weight, handy device makes the volume far more accessible and it is not taking up space on already tight shelves.

Kindle's screen is far easier to read than the pages of many books and it gives you the added advantage of being able to pick the font size. The buttons are convenient and the overall effect is very close to the tradtional reading experience.

Kindle is not cheap but if you are a serious reader, you'll be getting books for less than half the usual price that you'd pay.

In short, I'm hooked.

Five on Opinion Journalism

George Will lists five books on opinion journalism and a grand selection it is. Read it and smile.

Quote of the Day

Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, riches take wings. Only one thing endures, and that is character.

- Horace Greeley

Beatles Break

A great way to start the weekend: The Beatles in Germany.

Will a Mess-Up Mean a Job Loss?

FYI: My weekly post for U.S. News & World Report is up at the Outside Voices blog.

What Matters

The daily quest, the everpresent challenge, is determining what matters.

We are assaulted by trivia, surrounded by information, told that this book and that paper are must reads and certain plays, games, and films simply cannot be missed. When events and things aren't presenting distractions, people take over. If we are fortunate, they are pleasant people and yet there are plenty of unpleasant characters who love to spread their unhappiness.

Life is discovering what matters.

Mention religion to some individuals and they scatter like deer. I've met people who would rather reveal the details of their sex lives or delve into some dark, personal scandal than discuss God. By ignoring it, they are not just missing A Big Question; they are probably missing The Big Question.

[Mention spiritualism and they move closer, possibly because they get to define what spiritualism is and can erase any inconvenient requirements. Don't like a commandment? Say it doesn't apply. Better yet, make up a new one.]

Mention philosophy and watch as eyes glaze over. That was required reading, right? Let's talk about more practical stuff, such as mutual funds and vacation homes. How can Aristotle or Kant pertain to my daily life?

Mention politics and you may spark some excitement. One can love politics and yet worry about political utopians in much the same way that people worry about religious zealots. Historian Robert Conquest noted that during the 20th century millions were slaughtered by people who wanted to make things better. [To the argument of utopian regimes that you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs, one wag responded, "Where's the omelet?"]

We hardly need to spend any time on the materialists. I may not know much, but one thing that can be stated with certainty is "He (or she) who dies with the most toys wins" is not true.

Fame is another empty vessel. Dennis Prager was correct when he observed that we should never, ever, confuse fame with significance.

Death camp survivor Viktor Frankl wrote that our ultimate power is our ability to choose what sort of people we are going to be. Every day we do so by deciding what matters. Much of our decision is determined by what we don't want. We don't want to be haters or bigots or fools. Those may seem to be easy choices but a sizable number of people choose otherwise. What is truly challenging is picking what matters, what positive things do we want to be.

What guides you in that choice?

Quote of the Day

I am a man of peace. God knows I love peace. But I hope I shall never be such a coward as to mistake oppression for peace.

- Louis Kossuth

Patience and Forgiveness Requested

I've been unusually busy today. My computer has had mega-difficulty with Internet connections.

Those are my current excuses for slow posting.

Sloth will eventually rear its head.

[UPDATE: Great. I feel better already.]

Quote of the Day

Success generally depends upon knowing how long it takes to succeed.

- Montesquieu