READY It is only rare occasions that I have sat me down to write and have not been ready to do so.
I freely admit that this desire to write which comes so easily and quickly for me, has little worth in his do-it-now quality. That which is set down at such times will vary a great deal. Some bits and fragments will contain a germ of further thought, and some will be sheer garbage of the days activities. I agree that any preoccupation with details of the moment just passed are of little use to filling the looming future to any advantage but it does show we have a path, a system or a marked tendency to ward progress and uplifting of gaols and aspirations. We sound and seem
progressive. One has to be frankly aware of any good qualities we possess, however minuscule and consider ourselves to be wiser and stronger than
ever before as we anticipate the unfolding of possibilities. Most of that which has happened is best left in the past; we have the future as our main concern and any scraps or helps we can take to it from the past should help rather than hinder. Be very selective of what you wish to retain
I was reading just this morning of Thomas Jefferson's mixed concerns about the presence of slavery among us. We have, he seems to have said, a wolf by the ear and while we cannot control. We, at the same moment, are fearful of turning it loose as well for our own safety. He foresaw ,I would think, a great awakening in a moral sense or a bloody conflict to solve the problem. I doubt if old Tom worried a great deal about such things. Rather, he would have applied himself to personal kindness directed to blacks he knew or to whites who care for them.
I wrote all that last night at about 3:15 A.M simply because I wanted to be writing on the handy half-clip pad I keep - loaded and penned-up at my bedside. It is not going to shake the world - or any part of it - but anytime you can find yourself thinking things you think Tom Jefferson might have thought it is worth writing down.
a.l.m. July 16, 2005 [c392wds]
