What some call “preaching to the choir,” I call exhortation. Bucking up the troops requires a rhetoric composed of equal parts reason and sentiment. We may not be able to ply moral suasion on those who are effectively beyond the pale, but we can keep those who earnestly toil in the fields from losing heart. Many times I have felt that I was spinning my wheels at the keyboard, and then I get an e-mail from a total stranger who tells me that they were touched by a piece, or that their estranged child forwarded my article to them and reestablished a link. People want to laugh, cry and feel that they make a difference in the world, and that they are not just a tear flowing into the River of Lethe. They want to be assured that there is a truth larger than their troubles and that in the end, even if they fall in the attempt, they will emerge from the ashes a new and beautiful creature from having persevered…..even when they could see nothing but sorrow or futility. If there were no hope, we should never have desired it. The longing in our hearts is no mirage. In the final accounting, victory awaits for those who will not let go of the reins.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 05:14:04 +0000
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