“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” —Mark Twain.
Post 3-119
Mark Twain
Hell May Not Be What They Say It Is
Hey Kids,
“All right then, I’ll go to hell.”
The famous words of revelation spoken by Huck Finn.
When all your upbringing and all your peers and all your superiors are telling you one thing and your experience and your own ideas and your own heart say something else; are you willing to accept the consequences and follow your heart and do what you think is right?
Welcome to hell.
Post 3-052
Congress- Then and Now
Hey Kids,
“Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.” – Mark Twain
Post 3-048
Huckleberry Finn
Hey Kids,
I make no bones about it, I enjoy Mark Twain.
I haven’t read every piece he ever wrote, but I have a lifetime to get them all done, but suffice to say that those I have read, I enjoy.
I like the man Twain as well. Maybe a bit bitter towards the end and with good reason, his humor still resonates with me, his descriptions I love, and the way he wrote dialect- pure genius.
My favorite book of his is Life on the Mississippi. I know it’s not the popular choice, but it’s the one I can pick up again and again. Roughing It ranks pretty high up there with me too.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, however, is known to be his masterpiece. I would not ever try to dissuade anyone from that opinion. It is within the pages of Huckleberry Finn that I believe most will find and recognize that their humanity and ability to see the humanity in others rises above any feelings of race, prejudices, and environmental indoctrination one might have received.
Twain, I believe wanted to paint the picture of how it was, and at the same time how it could and should be. I believe it transcends just the question of race, but includes any point of difference we come across.
In an age of re-doing all the movies ever done, why doesn’t anyone look to make a movie from Twain’s Masterpiece? The Disney version was OK as a kid but I can tell you, I never learn the lesson that I think Twain intended.
In a time, at least in the USA when maybe we need a refresher course on looking beyond the tone of skin, of understanding another’s point-of-view, and of being tolerant of our own history; maybe Twain still has something to say.
After all I’ve said about remakes being of the devil, in this case I’d have to say:
“All right then, I’ll go to hell.”
Day 178
Chaulk One Up for the French
Hey Kids,
Surlendemain.
It’s the French word for the day after tomorrow.
When I was in France, I had a picture on my wall of Garfield the cat that read, “Never put off till tomorrow, that which you can put off till the day after”. In French of course. It’s from this picture I learned the French word. Later I learned this was a translated variation of a quote from Mark Twain, which in turn was a spin on a quote by Benjamin Franklin (Never put off till tomorrow what can be done today), which appears to be stolen from Philip Standhope, a British Statesman and Earl.
Procrastination is a word I have known for a very long time. I don’t need a quote or a French/English dictionary to understand it. I tell myself I do well under pressure and that is why I like to let things go to the wire. But then again, I don’t concern myself too much with the wire either.
“I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” Douglas Adams, English writer.
I didn’t need that quote, but I like and agree with it.
Today, I did something different.
I threw some ribs and potatoes in the Dutch oven and let them cook all evening long. The smell in the house is fantastic!
They are not part of a late dinner, as one might suspect. But instead they are for lunch tomorrow. I am cooking proactively. Today anyway.
I’ll start my diet Surlendemain.
Day 175
A Person First
Hey Kids,
Today marks the 105th anniversary of the death of Mark Twain. Mark Twain was/is my writer.
My favorite of his works are “Life on the Mississippi” and “Roughing It”. I can pick up either book at any time and reread just a few parts to spark my creative juices. His story-telling helps me find my inspiration, my voice, and re-kindle the joy of writing, if lost.
I’ve been asked how a meeting with Twain and I would go, do I think we would have anything to talk about. Honestly, I can’t imagine I would have anything to offer to him, but I’m sure that a few questions of the Big River or of Virginia City would conjure stories from Twain that he never had time to write. I believe I would buy drinks for as long as he would speak and he would speak for as long as I bought drinks.
I do not know if there is another writer that I could say the same about.
Except for maybe Hemmingway, but that would most likely end up in a fight, which he would probably win, but we would end up in a fly fishing discussion.
I guess my writers were not just writers. They were people I would want to hang out with and hear their stories first hand.
I hope that I am can be the same type of writer.
Day 57
Mike M Jensen 