Laziness and Moral Cowardice (part 1)

It was a moderately foggy day on Alamitos Bay. The sun has already burned most of it off in the 10 minutes it took to re-boot my computer. So much for a dramatic weather setting mood. In fact the weather on Alamitos Bay is usually so good that it's impossible to stay inside for cerebral exercises. Has that been my excuse for never writing?

Is the ever present good weather the reason for the California surfer mentality stereotype? Are Southern Californians enviromnmentaly pressured to act with a physical spurt of some pleasure-stress hormone axis?

In contrast, do the oppressive summertime steamy heat, or the continual grey skies of other seasons, promote the Weltys, Faulkners, Greshoms, or Tennessee Williamses in Mississippi?

If I had never moved out of Mississippi, New Orleans or Memphis would I already have an Nobel nomination for literature? Those were the days before I really needed a spell checker! Would I choose to put the observations into words to escape the heat or cold indices?

Nah. There are at least two published authors within four blocks of my house. There are two inventors with major patents for recognizable products. Why didn't the Beach Siren lure them away? Are there Beach Siren proof earplugs? What makes a writer or inventor? What disctracts a writer? why have I been so distracted for so long??

That being somewhat out of the way, now is the time to begin. Self analysis seems to get in the way. Time to make it go away. The purpose of this post was to outline future topics for Front Row View. I had to begin with reasons why I have NOT already written them. I see now they are just excuses, and a bit of laziness thrown in.

Most of the topics I plan to share are vigniettes of social changes over the past few decades. Perhaps arrogantly, I always thought of myself as having been in the middle of some events, at times by accident. This pales compared to an international journalist's experience. However it does offer a different perspective. It's the perspective of usually having been immersed in a social niche, then watching it grow or change. Here's one example.

I sat across the aisle from Reverend Ralph David Abernathy on a plane (Southern Airways) from Memphis to Atlanta just one week after the assasination of Martin Luther King. I was traveling on a student fare, but somehow got bumped up to first class! I remember smiling to myself at the freebie, then doinig the double take of recognition of a familiar face. I sat in stunned silence, beacuse it was an auspicious time. Yet the thoughts of a generation bubbled through my mind. Some psychological war broke out inside my head, and my lips remained paralyzed. (Want to hear the various theoretical explanations from the branches of psychology?)

I want to write about the conversation he and I didn't have. It's the same conversation I had internally at the time, but was too shy to verbalize to the successor to Reverend King. Yet to this day I regret not speaking up .

That post will be a topic on Moral Cowardace.

Where to Begin?

Where to begin?

That's a good question. This blog probably originates from one question in common with all other blogs. How can I assemble the random reflections significant to my own life experiences? This would make a great book! Of course! One day I will sit down and write it all, get an editor, and voila', the Next Great Literary Work emerges. But of course my life's insights tower above others. Perhaps Hemingway and Faulkner are exceptions.

Then come the excuses. "Well, I'm just too busy and perhaps learning a new surgical technique or delivering a baby is more important." "It's party time, after all!" "My friends seem to have so much fun." "If only I'd finished that summer school typing class at Batesville High, the I could type as fast as my thoughts."

We all have those insights and epiphanies (often in the shower) that rewind one's life history. I suspect that mine are not that unique, but, just possibly, just maybe they are? So here's an admission. Every biography of writers I've ever read points this out. Einstein has a famous quote about it, and I've been the antithesis. My inventor friends tell me the same thing with every idea for a new invention I tell them about.

It all boils down to this: Any idea, however great, has no footing unless you put in the hours to work it and communicate it to others. Maybe I can aquire the discipline. We'll see.

Hopefully, I can write some reasonably interesting posts about somemajor events

Heli Skiiing The Monashees

This picture is from one nearly perfect day of my life. After 100 turns in deep powder in the Canadian Monashees, I look forward to what's next, still smiling about the tracks left above me. The purple backpack clashing with my powder suit is the only nagging memory!