The subtle joy of the bat hitting the ball squarely needs no further appreciation from me. Many times previously I have celebrated the satisfaction that comes with this contact. Regrettably, however, it’s a pleasure that I have known too rarely in my Sunday softball games of the last four decades. Nowadays, for lack of a vigorous swing,I almost never experience this delight.
Category Archives: Blog
Secret Experimenters
Lurking among us in our cities and towns are older people who secretly experiment with truth. They have developed insight not shared by many younger than they.
Of course, the wise may not be easily recognizable as such. They do not walk around dispensing wisdom the way vending machines spew out coffee. In fact, they are probably reluctant to give any advice at all. The maxim about mystics holds here: “Those who say don't know; those who know don't say.”
Who Is Wise?
Who’s right?
Ecclesiasticus: “Do not be contemptuous of what older and wiser men have to tell thee; by their lore live thou, if wise thou woulds’t be, and have the gift of discernment.”
Or Henry David Thoreau: “I have lived some thirty years on this planet, and I have yet to hear the first syllable of valuable or even earnest advice from my seniors. They have told me nothing and probably cannot teach me anything.”
Holy Cow!
Harvey Cox combines theology with imagination as he again demonstrated yesterday in Harvard Yard. There, to mark his retirement, he shared the spotlight with a cow imported for the occasion. It may have been the first time some of the highly urbanized Harvard students standing nearby had ever seen such an animal.
Hurricane Reach
Waves, white-capped like old men, smashing against and over rocks, show the reach of Hurricane Bill. Seeing sea-nature proves one of the joys of visiting the Maine coast. Not so good for the fishermen, but awe-producing for us onlookers.
WWJD
The letters WWJD, popular among many religionists across America, now has a new meaning. “What Would Julia Do?” is a question anyone interested in preparing a good meal can profitably ask.
(For further information, see the fine film “Julie and Julia.”)
Superiority
A neighborhood walking tour took us, on a hot late August morning, to the three Cambridge homes of William Dean Howells. Now relegated to some obscurity, Howells was a literary lion in the America of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Besides being Atlantic Monthly editor, he wrote several novels, formerly read.