"I've read of other men my age experiencing the same thing - all men, it seems - one day becoming themselves, but also their fathers. Just like with legends, men build the base of themselves with parts of their fathers, with the basic truths...and then go on from there, of necessity, to alter other things, grow in new places, and become fathers themselves - but always growing out of the basic truths, a few simple things. And when you are twenty-five or thirty, and the world's becoming smaller, and things are starting to move, finally, like a train slowly leaving the station, picking up a little power, a little speed, that is when, at first, you're lifted by the bootstraps as you're going out the door, pretending you are him, doing the right thing, doing what he would do, until in the end, by rote, you learn it, and just in time."
- Rick Bass, Winter
The last temptation is the greatest treason:
To do the right deed for the wrong reason.
- T.S. Eliot
...interesting thoughts...except for the men who have no dad to follow, as you have...the who is the father they follow? Fortunate is your own son who will also one day leave the station fueled by some of your own love and care as a good man...as a dad.
ReplyDeletePS...mentioned your blog, again, on my blog post for today. Keep your creative wisdom coming. Thank you!
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