So, I had a party last night. Come nightfall, here gather some of the most interesting people in my life. A girl of unique energy and eyes that delicately watch everything handed me a book borrowed from the local library. She thought I might enjoy some "uncommon thoughts on common things."
Just then, an old friend of the Hills celebrated Bob Dylan's birthday with the touch of his finger to the Pandora app on his new ipod touch. "Mississippi." It was the song I had introduce Bob Dylan to him and two other close friends. It was some uncommon perspective on common things which I handed to them on the dock of a placid bay under the full moon of a sticky Florida night.
Sychronicity, perhaps.
So I figured to supplement the previous post on Orwell's advice on writing, I'd share with you an excerpt from a note of the author at the beginning of the book I was handed last night, "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten" by Robert Fulghum:
"This license gives me permission to use my imagination in rearranging my expereince to improve a story, so long as it serves some notion of Truth. It also contains the Storyteller's Creed:
I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge.
That myth is more potant than history.
That dreams are more powerful than facts.
That hope always triumphs over experience.
That laughter is the only sure for grief.
And I believe that love is stronger than death."
True gifts too seldom are given over the superficial, material tokens we exchange over holidays and special occassions. True gifts carry weight and meaning. I shared Dylan's "Mississippi" in hopes that it would be heard as something more than just a favorite song. I've accepted this book knowing it's more than just a good read.
15 years ago
