open questions
why am i finding it so difficult to finish what i start?*
am i really a "lovable tyrant?"
how did an introvert like me end up becoming a professional networker?
why are southerners so damn secretive?
is there a reason i cannot get images of the diseased trees of north central oklahoma out of my head?
* books that are currently open, and unfinished, upon my desk include: the fellowship of the ring; intuitive leadership; johnny cash and the great american contradiction; the book of bebb; and God at sinai.
Dwight’s Top Ten Books of 2024
5 days ago
7 comments:
your attempts at answers and personal questions are welcome.
i think you and rick really are long lost brothers--he usually has around the same number of books going at the same time too. maybe you are having trouble BECAUSE you have more than one at a time--that could be pretty overwhelming! :)
i think southerners are secretive because they have so many nasty things in their past that they needed to keep secret (obvious one: racial prejudice). so now it gets genetically passed down through the generations. i was born in arkansas (hope, to be exact). i wonder what happened to me? ha!
as for those images of the diseased trees, maybe you should plant a tree in your yard when the weather is good enough...maybe your brain would be willing to trade one image for another.
We Southerners are secretive because we are socialized from infancy to give the impression of outward focused, intimately connecting, casual enthusiastic wide open camaraderie in every possible situation. Since this is a flat lie, we get very practiced at keeping secrets. Now you know why I moved out of the South as soon as I could.
maybe you are finding it difficult to finish what you start because you have a new child in the house?
in the ironic words of machiavelli "it is better to be feared than loved." so maybe just go with the tyrant and forget love.
re: southern secrets - see Flannery OConnor.
steven pinker believes we opporate in a mental world of metaphore. what kind of metaphore could the diseased trees of north central oklahoma represent?
I think you are analyzing it to death! Lighten up!!! ~ Love, Mom
with all due respect, i'm not likely to set such questions aside. often, but certainly not always, such rumblings in my soul have led me to discover important pieces of the puzzle. thus, when questions arise i try not to sleep them off but do my best to uncle freddy's advice to "Stay awake!"
kristi and mother beth, i resonate with your analysis of southern secrecy. i find it ironic that we southerners try so hard to hide our sins and abnormalities in an attempt to maintain relations with others when, in the end, it is truly our brokenness, not the appearance of righteousness, which binds us more intimately to others. it wouldn't surprise me if this reticence towards honesty is what fueled our tent revivals and has left us deeply suspicious of grace.
i have long thought that i am far too honest to ever survive a long spell in a southern pulpit. part of me wishes that wasn't true, but most of me knows damn well that it is.
as for those trees, my father-in-law says that the unhealthy flora in the plains is the unintended result of excellent fire management. in regards to this matter, as well as so many others, i suspect alan is speaking the truth.
When I called you a lovable tryant, your wife could barely keep herself from bursting out in laughter. Draw your own conclusions.
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