When I'm in a pine box, people will read the internet and say: "Wow. Grampa was cool. He wrote a blog! How endearing and soulful."
Actually, that was a lie.
When I open the cigar box full of old stuff I got from my Grampa, I get goosebumps. When people dust off their Macbooks 80 years from now and type www.benbouwman.blogspot.com into that crazy old thing they used to use called Firefox, will they get goosebumps at the garbage I write here? Doubt it.
I need to leave something behind that will yellow with age, that people will have to dig up and dust off, that they will be able to physically store and treasure, not look up on the internet every once in a while.
But who really cares? It's all going to burn anyway; that's what mom always says when Aunt Margaret talks on and on blah blah blah about her next addition to her collection of antique collections. Then Aunt Margaret goes red in the face, pours another glass of wine and says: "Yes that's true - But I love to have a Coll-eck-shun!"
I am an Aunt-like figure who has had far too much wine and who yells at the top of her lungs "I LOVE TO HAVE A COLLECTION!" until her nephew wishes that either he was not obliged to sit at the table with her or he was Harry Potter and could make her inflate.
Thoreau says that poor people are actually rich because they can do with less. He is right about that.
9 comments:
Benjamin Jacob, please write a book.
Love,
Brittni
I Second That.
Love,
Justine
"...It's only a matter of time
Before we all burn"
- Grapevine Fires, Death Cab for Cutie
That's what I thought of when I read that.
But hey, I don't think blogs are supposed to be lasting memorabilia of any importance whatsoever. At least for me, it's really just a way of letting out stuff in my head.
In short, yeah. Write a book if you want it to get old and yellowed and have lasting value to people.
But please keep blogging too.
Postscript: I don't like your last line, it makes me uncomfortable... because it's true.
Thoreau? Let's just remember for a moment that whatever poor people he's talking about are actually rich when it comes to material wealth. Nobody wants their children's stomachs to be bloated. Nobody wants to be unable to afford toilet paper, and develop diseases because they can't keep themselves clean. Nobody wants to smell because they can't afford soap or water. Nobody wants to be unable to think about anything except where the next bit of food is coming from, because they're so hungry they're nearly delirious.
Yes, being rich can be a curse, but it is firstly a gift that we should appreciate.
There is absolutely nothing wonderful about being poor.
p.s. I realize that sometimes suffering can change people for the better... but I don't want to romanticize about poverty if I'm not absolutely certain that I'd prefer being poor. That's all I'm trying to say.
Dear Ben
You are not an Aunt-like figure who has had too much wine. You are a wise young man with a lot of things in perspective. That's what counts, despite the coll-leck-shuns that you have. Love you! : )
PS What counts for a long lasting legacy is relationships. They are the only thing that will help you bounce back when you realize you haven't got what it takes. Invest in a collection of friends! (You don't have to dust them either...)
You're right Tala, but I've never seen a starving child. Maybe, given your heritage, you have. But, when Thoreau compares the happy rich with the happy poor, he is right when he says that the poor man is richer because he can be content with less.
Thoreau and I share few things in common - but one such thing is that we are both North American. Forgive us.
And, thanks for the vote of confidence Ange! I didn't know you read this.
Love, Ben
Haha, well, my heritage has little to do with my opinion on this, besides maybe my parents' influence. I haven't been in too many situations of abject poverty myself.
I think I agree with you. But I don't think real poverty is a good thing in any situation. Perhaps being very CLOSE to poor is a good thing, but I don't think living with constant fear of being poor is healthy... in any case, it's true that learning to trust God is a good lesson. But I'm not sure financial means or lack of should be the motivation for a contrite heart... I don't know. I have to think about it more.
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