“The Tranquil Speed of Space”

He watched out at the stars in a kind of trance. Soon it would be the summer again, when he could sleep on the battlements and watch these stars hovering as close as moths above his face – and, in the Milky Way at least, with something of the mothy  pollen. They would be at the same time so distant that unutterable thoughts of space and eternity would baffle themselves in his sighing breast, and he would imagine to himself how he was falling upward higher and higher among them, never reaching, never-ending, leaving and losing everything in the tranquil speed of space.

 

T.H. White, from “The Once & Future King”

 

I’m about two-thirds of the way through this wonderful book. As you can see from the quote above, this author knows how to write. This is only one of many beautiful strings of words he puts together in this novel. I can’t believe I never read this before. I’m sure I’ll be reading it again. And, yes, I will review it when finished.

Just following my New Year’s resolution to tell myself better stories!

 

A New Year’s Resolution For All of Us

English: Two New Year’s Resolutions postcards (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Happy New Year to all of you! I hope everyone had a wonderful evening and are now safe at home enjoying family and friends.

I wanted to share a New Year’s resolution and invite everyone to consider joining me in following it. I don’t think it will require any major feats of willpower, just an increase in awareness.

Let’s all try to tell ourselves better stories in 2014. Whether these are in the form of traditional novels, graphic novels, movies, television programs, it doesn’t matter. Let’s all try to take in the stories that tell of nobler things, things like honor, truth, bravery, hope, faith and, of course, love. By love I don’t mean the superficially romantic, physical love thrown at us by today’s culture, but the real love that we as humans give to our family, friends and fellow human beings. These are the virtues that reflect our Creator and set us apart from being mere animals.

Let’s try to avoid, as best we can, the cheap, the vulgar or obscene, the irreverent, the dysfunctional, the crude, and the pornography of blood and death. These things also separate us from the animals. These things make us lower than the beasts of the field, the swimmers of the depths, or the sailors of the sky.

Let’s all feed our spirits with stories that display the truth that being human is a wondrous joy and a divine responsibility.