Saturday Morning Musings

I have the urge to write this morning, and it's probably because I just read the introduction to our next book club selection, "October Light," by John Gardner. It's my first book by this author, but the introduction, written by Tom Bissel, has me rather intrigued. BUT, that's not what I'm getting the urge to write about. The book is prefaced by the following passage from a letter, written in 1822 from Thomas Jefferson to John Adams.

To turn to the news of the day, it seems that the cannibals of Europe are going to eat one another again. A war between Russia and Turkey is like the battle of the kite and the snake; whichever destroys the other leaves a destroyer the less for the world. This pugnacious humor of mankind seems to be the law of his nature, one of the obstacles to too great multiplication provided in the mechanism of the Universe. The cocks of the hen yard kill one another; bears, bulls, rams do the same, and when the horse, in his wild state, kills all the young males until he's worn down with age and war, some youth kills him.

I hope we shall prove how much happier for the man the Quaker policy is, and that the life of the feeder is better than that of the fighter: and it is some consolation that the desolation by these maniacs of one part of the earth is the means of improving it in other parts. Let the latter be our office: and let us milk the cow, while the Russian holds her by the horns, and the Turk by the tail.

First, let me say that I am not a history buff, and if Jeff were here, he would be laughing at me, for attempting to write about such a prominent figure from the past. Really, though, all that I want to say is that I've often wondered what makes certain people stand out in historical terms. Is it because they were really great, with progressive ideas that changed the world; or was it because they were in the right place at the right time? Of course, the little history I do remember, reminds me that Thomas Jefferson had all sort of ideas about all sorts of things, but after reading this portion of his letter to John Adams, I just have to say "WOW."

Unfortunately, it seems that his Quaker ideology has not caught on quite like he hoped, and that the laws of nature he speaks of, are just that; AND despite humans thinking themselves the superior species on this planet, humankind as a whole is really no different than the rest of the animal kingdom. However, I still love this passage, and I love the hope that emanates from it.

There, now that I got that out, (I hope you're still reading...lol) I can talk a little bit about JD and me. We are having a great summer. The weather has been fantastic and the sun exceptionally healing. I try to talk to JD a little bit everyday, about Daddy, and we continue to kiss his picture and tell him we love him before bedtime. Unfortunately, I know that JD's memories of Jeff are fading fast. I hope that over the course of his childhood he can glean enough information from me and the rest of our family to be able to feel his Dad's essence. I've said before that Jeff made me a better person, and despite his not having anymore personal contact with Jeff, I want JD to benefit from knowing his father through all of us.