COLUMN ONE

The List

It’s time to update the list of things I should have learned by now. Not because I’ve learned them, but because new additions to the list keep occurring to me. “Experience keeps a dear school,” as old Ben Franklin observed, “but fools will learn in no other.” Here’s a lesson from old Wendell Berry, the sage and farmer out of Henry County, Kentucky. It comes in the form of one of his poems. This one is titled, “How to Be a Poet (to remind myself),” but it could just as well be called How to Be Human:

Make a place to sit down.

Sit down. Be quiet.

You must depend upon

affection, reading, knowledge,

skill-more of each

than you have-inspiration,

work, growing older, patience,

for patience joins time

to eternity. Any readers

who like your poems,

doubt their judgment.

Breathe with unconditional

breath the unconditioned air.

Shun electric wire.

Communicate slowly. Live

a three-dimensional life,

stay away from screens.

Stay away from anything

that obscures the place it is in.

There are no unsacred places;

there are only sacred places

and desecrated places.

Thoreau put it more succinctly:“Nothing can be more useful to a man than a determination not to be hurried.”

Don’t worry so much. Don’t worry, period. Worrying is an attenuated form of atheism. Do your best and then let Somebody Else handle it.

“Step lightly; do not jar the inner harmonies.”-Satchel Paige.

A man’s never learned as much as he thinks he has. He also may have learned the wrong things. The truly wise may be those still capable of unlearning some things.

Life is just full of surprises. To quote a favorite philosopher of mine named Fats Waller: “One never knows, do one?”

Always show good will. If it is not reciprocated, nothing is lost. If it is, celebrate.

Contrary to Machiavelli, it is better to be loved than feared, at least in personal relations.

Nations are different; they have interests, not friends.

“Eliminate the negative, accentuate the positive, latch on to the affirmative, and don’t mess with Mister In-Between.”-Johnny Mercer.

I’ve been taught what writing opinion ought to be about. But as Dr. Johnson said, we need to be reminded more than taught. I just need to be reminded of what I’ve learned. Such as:

“When you’re sure you’re right, forget caution.” That’s about the wisest thing a publisher ever told me. It ranks up there with something another publisher once told me: “The best editorials appeal to the community’s own standards-while raising them.” Which is a neat trick, but the only one really worth doing in an editorial.

The real winner of any debate, win or lose, is the one who raises its level.

“The best editorials articulate what everyone knows but no one has ever said before.”-William Allen White.

Make the phone call. Silence is the worst response. Except in response to insults. Let things pass. You might be surprised how they right themselves if ignored long enough. Time may not heal but it does help.

Obey the rules. You’ll sleep better.

Imagine if everyone did.

What’s the worst thing about television? It’s not the trash, the inanity, the shout shows, the sex with-violence, the time wasted. It’s the escapism from who you are, the unspoken but all-permeating message that your life isn’t the one worth watching. Savor the written word instead, or the spoken one in real, human conversation. Yes, don’t settle for less than the best.

The South will rise again, just not in the way we expected.

A capacity for surprise is the truest sign of the believer.

Don’t be embarrassed to change your mind. No one should have to live with a bad decision.

Stop. The world is a conspiracy to keep us running instead of thinking. Or feeling.

And, oh yes, beware of old men handing out maxims.

Paul Greenberg is editorial page editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. E-mail him at: [email protected]

Perspective, Pages 71 on 07/21/2013

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