Your words dovetail with a message I just read by Kurt Vonnegut, where he says it is not important to be great at something, only to enjoy doing something for its own sake. Can we somehow instill this in our coming generations? I think much of the angst and despair our dear children feel in this age is a deep driving push to be good at everything, to be perfect, insisted upon by the world around them. A fear of not being good enough cripples trying. If this burden were lifted from our young people, imagine how hope and change could bloom.
“A person still on her way”: ahhhhh, May Sarton at seventy. And the little girl, “to learn, and not be perfect.” Zen masters, both of them! And your beautiful thoughts pulling them together. I love how you dip into so many pots of gold—still asking, still receiving, still offering generously.
May Sarton was one of my spark authors, you know, like spark birds, the ones that get you hooked? I came from working-class background, no concept of a writing life or even of such a thing as writing. Then a friend in college, a “cultured” friend, a prof’s kid, introduced me to Journal of a Solitude. Boy, howdy. It was so way beyond me and yet so…not. It gave me new ways of imagining life.
Your words dovetail with a message I just read by Kurt Vonnegut, where he says it is not important to be great at something, only to enjoy doing something for its own sake. Can we somehow instill this in our coming generations? I think much of the angst and despair our dear children feel in this age is a deep driving push to be good at everything, to be perfect, insisted upon by the world around them. A fear of not being good enough cripples trying. If this burden were lifted from our young people, imagine how hope and change could bloom.
“A person still on her way”: ahhhhh, May Sarton at seventy. And the little girl, “to learn, and not be perfect.” Zen masters, both of them! And your beautiful thoughts pulling them together. I love how you dip into so many pots of gold—still asking, still receiving, still offering generously.
Thank you always, Priscilla! Reading May Sarton has been a real treat.
May Sarton was one of my spark authors, you know, like spark birds, the ones that get you hooked? I came from working-class background, no concept of a writing life or even of such a thing as writing. Then a friend in college, a “cultured” friend, a prof’s kid, introduced me to Journal of a Solitude. Boy, howdy. It was so way beyond me and yet so…not. It gave me new ways of imagining life.
I'm excited to read Journal of a Solitude! Next on my list
Beautiful writing, both hers and yours. Thank you for a such a gem on my Sunday!
Thank you so much!
Love the way you open up words, like “stillness.”