Tell me a story.
In this century, and moment, of mania,
Tell me a story.
Make it a story of great
Distances, and starlight.
The name of the story will be Time,
But you must not pronounce its name.
--Robert Penn Warren
Look around you these days in the media and all you seem to see and hear are various cautionary news stories. In newspapers and magazines. Radio. TV news broadcasts. Web sites. All are filled with stories that would break your heart. Some that may make you rejoice. Many will make you cry if you have a heart. Read most of them and the root of them seem to be fear. Fear of unknown risks, our own government, terrorism, and the predator next door.
But where are the great stories, the great discoveries, and the universal truths? Where are the great revelations that stir passions in the souls of man? Our children are hungry. Our young men are dying in deserts trying to bring peace to citizens in the face of those that wish nothing but the turmoil of war, violence and repression. These times seem destructively serpentine--a snake appearing to wish nothing more than swallow its own tail while strangling mankind.
I suspect that time will reveal to the next generations the greatness of the people that live now, as it revealed to our generation what WWII veterans gave the world, what Martin Luther King risked for equality and what a lone man standing in front of a tank did at Tienanmen Square.
A child will be on a knee, somewhere in the future, hearing a story that is about a time before. I hope that it could be me to tell them. And hopefully they can be great ones like the ones I have heard.
In this century, and moment, of mania,
Tell me a story.
Make it a story of great
Distances, and starlight.
The name of the story will be Time,
But you must not pronounce its name.
--Robert Penn Warren
Look around you these days in the media and all you seem to see and hear are various cautionary news stories. In newspapers and magazines. Radio. TV news broadcasts. Web sites. All are filled with stories that would break your heart. Some that may make you rejoice. Many will make you cry if you have a heart. Read most of them and the root of them seem to be fear. Fear of unknown risks, our own government, terrorism, and the predator next door.
But where are the great stories, the great discoveries, and the universal truths? Where are the great revelations that stir passions in the souls of man? Our children are hungry. Our young men are dying in deserts trying to bring peace to citizens in the face of those that wish nothing but the turmoil of war, violence and repression. These times seem destructively serpentine--a snake appearing to wish nothing more than swallow its own tail while strangling mankind.
I suspect that time will reveal to the next generations the greatness of the people that live now, as it revealed to our generation what WWII veterans gave the world, what Martin Luther King risked for equality and what a lone man standing in front of a tank did at Tienanmen Square.
A child will be on a knee, somewhere in the future, hearing a story that is about a time before. I hope that it could be me to tell them. And hopefully they can be great ones like the ones I have heard.
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2 comments:
I believe the great stories are the small, unpretentious, seemingly insignificant things that people say and do for others in kindness. No need for newspapers.
I would agree...The greatest wave on the ocean started as a breath of breeze on the sea, miles away and time long past.
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