Oh the whole crux is look outside yourself for a change and seek to see/hear/understand/serve others.
For example the message towards the end, “The next time you find yourself in conversation, set aside your own agenda for a moment or two, and really listen to the other person.”
I was joking and saying it is easier to do these things when you don’t like yourself anyway
Understood. I thought I’d said something in my reply about self-loathing, or cloaked that in some way I missed. I misread the thread line as a reply to my note instead of the original piece. Apologies.
I guess I failed in the admonition to REALLY listen to you. Time to go home and try and practice that in my house full of women. Pray for me. (Don’t misunderstand, I love all my girls, but sometimes it can be exhausting. Saturday I played a game with my youngest called “Marrying Mr. Darcy” and managed to finish in second place by only marrying Colonel Fitzwilliam. On the upside, my daughter did manage to get Darcy, always an admirable result.)
Oh! I thought I was commenting on Jordan’s main post, I didn’t mean to comment on yours directly! That definitely explains the confusion and was totally caused by me on accident - apologies! Love your comment
I grew up pretty much hating Dickens and his “paid-by-the-word” stories of a world I had next-to-no-interest in. I actively avoided reading his books in my high school literature courses, cribbing what I needed to know from lunchtime talks with my classmates who HAD read the books. (And I have always been a pretty voracious reader; I just HATED reading Dickens). A few years back when I looked my mortality right in the eyes, I made a decision to actually read the books I had “cheated” on, as well as books that any educated person SHOULD have read. A Tale of Two Cities was one (it wasn’t ever assigned in school; we got Great Expectations, which I still haven’t read) and was also one that my oldest daughter and bride insisted I read because it was actually good. Sigh. They were right. I was wrong. It’s a fantastic book and one that I regret not reading sooner. I’ve also begun the process of digging into Jane Austen. If only I had read Pride and Prejudice when I was younger because then I might have actually understood women…
Required reading in most public schools does so much violence to kids' relationship to books. Your experience with Dickens was my experience with Hawthorne, and I STILL haven't read The Scarlet Letter all the way through. What kind of an idiot expects the typical teenager to appreciate that book? And first impressions die hard.
My school experiences were extraordinarily varied. I had some classes with just stellar reading lists. Heck, my 6th grade reading textbook had an excerpt from “The Hobbit”. Junior year was the worst I think. Great Expectations and All the King’s Men were the ones I specifically recall NOT reading. I finally read the latter a couple years ago and with an adult’s wisdom can see it for the masterpiece it was, but trying to read it as a high school junior, especially given its length and density? Nah. Not gonna work. I was lucky too in seeing what the other classes were up to (I was friends with some of the English teachers and got to spend some time helping organize the book room) and found some GREAT stuff that was never assigned in the classes I took. A Canticle of Leibowitz? My word what a fantastic book. I can’t fathom ANY world that it could be taught in a public school now with the religious themes, but it was a highly original story that dragged me in and wouldn’t let me go. I _THINK_ I read “Alas, Babylon” as part of a class - another apocalyptic story feeding the fears of my Cold War HS years…but a good book anyway. I wish I could remember more. Humanities gave us Plato and such, and I had a good teacher so it was accessible. In college I had a radical feminist teach my American Literature elective who nevertheless taught some fantastic short stories in an engaging way that didn’t make us hate ourselves. She was so good; I was an engineer and she helped me activate my reading for pleasure gene again. Anyhow. I’m rambling. I’ll stop. Keep up the good work - I always enjoy reading your takes.
It is easier when you don't like yourself
What does that mean?
Oh the whole crux is look outside yourself for a change and seek to see/hear/understand/serve others.
For example the message towards the end, “The next time you find yourself in conversation, set aside your own agenda for a moment or two, and really listen to the other person.”
I was joking and saying it is easier to do these things when you don’t like yourself anyway
Understood. I thought I’d said something in my reply about self-loathing, or cloaked that in some way I missed. I misread the thread line as a reply to my note instead of the original piece. Apologies.
I guess I failed in the admonition to REALLY listen to you. Time to go home and try and practice that in my house full of women. Pray for me. (Don’t misunderstand, I love all my girls, but sometimes it can be exhausting. Saturday I played a game with my youngest called “Marrying Mr. Darcy” and managed to finish in second place by only marrying Colonel Fitzwilliam. On the upside, my daughter did manage to get Darcy, always an admirable result.)
Oh! I thought I was commenting on Jordan’s main post, I didn’t mean to comment on yours directly! That definitely explains the confusion and was totally caused by me on accident - apologies! Love your comment
You probably did. I’m the one that read it wrong. Cheers!
I grew up pretty much hating Dickens and his “paid-by-the-word” stories of a world I had next-to-no-interest in. I actively avoided reading his books in my high school literature courses, cribbing what I needed to know from lunchtime talks with my classmates who HAD read the books. (And I have always been a pretty voracious reader; I just HATED reading Dickens). A few years back when I looked my mortality right in the eyes, I made a decision to actually read the books I had “cheated” on, as well as books that any educated person SHOULD have read. A Tale of Two Cities was one (it wasn’t ever assigned in school; we got Great Expectations, which I still haven’t read) and was also one that my oldest daughter and bride insisted I read because it was actually good. Sigh. They were right. I was wrong. It’s a fantastic book and one that I regret not reading sooner. I’ve also begun the process of digging into Jane Austen. If only I had read Pride and Prejudice when I was younger because then I might have actually understood women…
Required reading in most public schools does so much violence to kids' relationship to books. Your experience with Dickens was my experience with Hawthorne, and I STILL haven't read The Scarlet Letter all the way through. What kind of an idiot expects the typical teenager to appreciate that book? And first impressions die hard.
My school experiences were extraordinarily varied. I had some classes with just stellar reading lists. Heck, my 6th grade reading textbook had an excerpt from “The Hobbit”. Junior year was the worst I think. Great Expectations and All the King’s Men were the ones I specifically recall NOT reading. I finally read the latter a couple years ago and with an adult’s wisdom can see it for the masterpiece it was, but trying to read it as a high school junior, especially given its length and density? Nah. Not gonna work. I was lucky too in seeing what the other classes were up to (I was friends with some of the English teachers and got to spend some time helping organize the book room) and found some GREAT stuff that was never assigned in the classes I took. A Canticle of Leibowitz? My word what a fantastic book. I can’t fathom ANY world that it could be taught in a public school now with the religious themes, but it was a highly original story that dragged me in and wouldn’t let me go. I _THINK_ I read “Alas, Babylon” as part of a class - another apocalyptic story feeding the fears of my Cold War HS years…but a good book anyway. I wish I could remember more. Humanities gave us Plato and such, and I had a good teacher so it was accessible. In college I had a radical feminist teach my American Literature elective who nevertheless taught some fantastic short stories in an engaging way that didn’t make us hate ourselves. She was so good; I was an engineer and she helped me activate my reading for pleasure gene again. Anyhow. I’m rambling. I’ll stop. Keep up the good work - I always enjoy reading your takes.