Briefly

I often feel like Professor Faber from Ray Bradbury’s brilliant novel “Fahrenheit 451.” He understood what had happened to his society and culture. He understood the intellectual and psychological way out of the mess, but he lived alone and watched in fear and despair as his society kept sinking deeper and deeper into an abyss. He saw and understood what many others needed to know, but he had no way of communicating the message to them — because he couldn’t compete with the shallow entertainment which had buried serious thought by those such as him. That doesn’t mean I have all the answers, any more than a scared and despairing Faber did. It just means I know how people could choose to dig themselves out of the shallow and emotionally empty world they’ve created for themselves. But they’re too busy laughing at the White Clown to pay attention. (Please read the book and think about it. The book isn’t about censorship, despite what your English teacher might have once told you. It’s about modern life and your choices.)

In a restaurant, I just heard a mother angrily call her son — about 6 years old — a “bastard” and threaten to take his dinner away from him. He was so obviously scared that it makes me wonder what things are like at home when outsiders aren’t watching. There was a father with them, but he didn’t say a word the whole time. Some people shouldn’t reproduce — and others can’t be trusted to raise children in loving and healthy ways. Those are the people who typically pass along their dysfunction to the next generation, and they often wonder why their children are so hostile and unhappy after the kids get old enough to understand what happened to them.

A man on Reddit posted this sweet story today: “Had a crummy day yesterday; got this note on my nightstand this morning from my daughter.” We all need people who love us and are there every day — when things go well and when they don’t. Somebody needs you, whether you know it yet or not.