Wordsmiths from the past

When seeking to understand the world, I move beyond it to books and try to find solace, understanding, vindication, or just diversion. And, then, I move to fiction to escape.

Since the “P” word arrived in our daily conversation, I have increasingly needed to move to the library. And, felt the need to remind myself that previous generations, while they did not have the technological ‘advantages’ of our time, did have leadership and sufficient command of our language to help those around them aspire, understand, and live with hope 

This article is by way of providing some food for thought, without comment other than to suggest we each take what we can from the words and writings of those who have gone before, to ensure we make it through this particularly delicate stage of our pandemic response, our societal health, and our ‘community’ survival. These words from the past might help us reframe what we are hearing on our airwaves and via our cyber platforms. They might just make us remember what we are losing when we buy into our collective and universal narcissism. They might also jolt us into being less accepting of the inadequacies of some of those in leadership positions, be they politicians, corporate magnates or religious and media commentators.  And a note – the author’s words are framed by the times in which they lived and the then common usage of the English language.  

It is 1901 and Edmund Barton declares: 

We ask you to elect men because of their sincerity, candour, and high principles. By doing that the future of this great continent will be conserved. In that way you may hope to have all the promises of the founders of this Constitution fulfilled. Every one of those promises were contingent on the people exercising their common sense by putting men into parliament who will be faithful to their promises, loyal to their country, loyal to their Empire, and above all humble enough not to set self before country.

 In the preface to his 1919 recounting of The Endurance Exploration, Sir Ernest Shackleton writes:

….there are chapters in this book of high adventure, strenuous days, lonely nights, unique experiences, and, above all, records of unflinching determination, supreme loyalty, and generous self-sacrifice on the part of my men which, even in these days that have witnessed the sacrifices of nations and regardless of self on the part of individuals, still will be of interest to readers who now turn gladly from the red horror of war and the strain of the last five years to read, perhaps with more understanding minds, the tale of the White Warfare of the South.

Of human endurance, one need only look to Roger Hutchinson’s biography, Calum’s Road, the truly beautiful tale of Calum MacLeod (1911 – 1988) of the Hebridean island, Raasay:

…Calum’s road has established itself effortlessly in the folklore…..Calum MacLeod’s community was the smallest of the small, the most neglected of the neglected; it was located on the furthermost point of one of the least prominent of the lonely Hebrides….Calum MacLeod was displaying and embodying a deep belief in the capacities and qualities of a certain way of life in his small corner of the world. He would never lose that trust in his place and his people.

In 1975, E.B. White (author of Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little, and many other novels) wrote a letter to a Mr Nadeau (reproduced here with thanks to Shaun Usher’s collection Letters of Note, Canongate):

As long as there is one upright man, as long as there is one compassionate woman, the contagion may spread and the scene is not desolate. Hope is the thing that is left to us, in a bad time. I shall get up Sunday morning and wind the clock, as a contribution to order and steadfastness.

Sailors have an expression about the weather: they say, the weather is a great bluffer. I guess the same is true of our human society – things can look dark, then a break shows in the clouds, and all is changed, sometimes rather suddenly. It is quite obvious that the human race has made a….mess of life on this planet. But as a people we probably harbour seeds of goodness that have lain for a long time waiting to sprout when the conditions are right. Man’s curiosity, his relentlessness, his inventiveness, his ingenuity have led him into deep trouble. We can only hope that these same traits will enable him to claw his way out.

Hang on to your hat. Hang on to your hope. And wind the clock, for tomorrow is another day.

Loyalty, humility, self-sacrifice, hope….all embodied in these ‘stories’ from the past. May we look beyond the shortcomings of those around us in politics, corporate Australia, organised religion and the mainstream media, and believe we too will experience something approximating that of the communities these people belonged to…..

Let us turn to Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa for the final word:

Literature is the most agreeable way of ignoring life.

Off to the library……