While commenting about a book my son, Steve, gave me, I inadvertently struck upon something that sums up why I do much of what I do:

To connect with another person, another mind in such a way as to introduce a spark of insight that might otherwise not occur; and hence to elevate that person’s life and perhaps even beyond – that is the highest calling of the author. Whether achieved or not, it is an endeavor worth pursuing.

Whether writing or preaching or leading marriage celebrations or even consulting with attorneys or business professionals, that kind of sums it up. Not that others don’t try to do the same. It’s not a matter of ego. The more of us who engage in trying to elevate this business of living (even when failing), the better off we are as a whole society.

 This is the comment on FB that led to the above:

The other day my son, Steve, gave me a book he thought I might enjoy. I’m not even into the story itself yet, but still on the Introduction. But I find it fascinating.



Orson Scott Card writes: "I think that most of us, anyway, read these stories that we know are not ‘true’ because we’re hungry for another kind of truth: The mythic truth about human nature in general, the particular truth about those life-communities that define our own identity, and the most specific truth of all: our own self-story. Fiction, because it is not about somebody who actually lived in the real world, always has the possibility of being about ourself."

To connect with another person, another mind in such a way as to introduce a spark of insight that might otherwise not occur; and hence to elevate that person’s life and perhaps even beyond – that is the highest calling of the author. Whether achieved or not, it is an endeavor worth pursuing.