Old Business

The cards and letters keep pouring in to the MWBH mail room on the subject of "bein' a good mate." This one comes from Kenneth Allen, author of the weblog Naptio Divina:

"It's interesting that some of your commenters spoke of the 'rugged individualism' of the American male. I've heard (well, ok, I knew already) that Thoreau was a big proponent of that, as was Emerson... however, ...Thoreau lived in alone and individuallistically the midst of what is basically a country club setting, off of an inheritance, and was it the Alcott sisters (?) who brought him his meals regulalry? Whoever it was who lived nearby as he lived his idyllic, ruggedly individualistic existence... Which of course relied heavily on the community with which he was associated... A more interesting person to study would be Josiah Royce, who speaks of communities and the way we need to be fully integrated not only as individuals, but within the communities to which we belong... He spoke prophetically on American thought when he claimed some 100 years ago, that if we kept on the path of rugged indiviualism, the family would disintegrate, Americans would no longer want to pay taxes... etc..."

Actually, Ken, I'm not even sure anyone ever wanted to pay taxes. And unless I'm mistaken (It can happen!), even in the USA, the Federal income tax was only implemented in 1906.

By the way, folks, Ken is also a seminarian from the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Let's give him an authentic Cajun cheer as he prepares for ordination:

"Gimme an I!"

"I!"

"Gimme an E!"

"E!"

"What's that spell?"

"ai-YEEEEEEE!"

(Whew!) I've been meaning to get into the subject of community for some time now. But it's a big subject for me, and my writing lately tends to be in small doses. Stay tuned on this one.