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| November 12 |
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"You can love completely without complete understanding." Many will recognize that line as just one of the many memorable phrases from Norman Maclean’s A River Runs Through It. Such a simple arrangement of words to convey the most profound of insights. With the slightest of linguistic twists, this sentence set forth in a new way the mystery that comes in loving another human being. I was enraptured by the author’s skill, his obvious devotion to the craft of writing and his understanding of one of life’s more hidden secrets. That lovely phrase left me savoring other, equally beautiful, literary treasures. From the very first time I opened up A Tale of Two Cities and read that introductory paragraph, I knew that Mr. Dickens was inviting me to something very special. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair..." Etched from that moment into my memory was the realization that words mattered, that words could be used to express the ambiguity of life, the questions that troubled me deep in the depths of my slowly formulating soul At the drop of a hat, I can still quote Hamlet’s advice to the players, all three long, tongue-torturing paragraphs. I learned it as a teenager and yet, 35 years later, the Bard continues to shape the manner of my Sunday sermons. Such is the power of certain words arranged in certain orders. I wonder if there is any more convincing commentary on the vagaries of human existence than this: "To be or not to be: that is the question. Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.." Are there others? The list seems endless and the gratitude eternal. Anyone who has read Robert Frost understands the very special pleasure that occurs upon meeting an opening line like this: "Something there is that doesn’t love a wall..." And you know precisely what he means without having to be as precise as he. My own life has been made immeasurable richer by women and men who loved words and shared that love with me. Such abundant wealth is enjoyed over and over again, each time a particular phrase is remembered, a cogent expression recalled. I treasure such gifts and envy the givers who, by both grace and good work, have imparted their passion for words with me. A final line from A River Runs Through It that happens to be the very first sentence in the book, "In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing." Who wouldn’t want to open such a gift as this? |
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