|
|
Dalton
Roberts |
|
|
|
Esteemed
photographer Jack Spencer said, "I honestly believe that a great
novel could be written about each and every one of us." He
should know. His pictures of old Mississippi musicians and ordinary
working people set loose streams of thought that could well make up
chapters in novels about each of them. Just think of some powerful
pictures you have seen and how vividly they spoke about the
persons, and you will know what I mean. He
added, "We all have wondrous tales written across our faces. Some
are epic, some tragic, some hilarious, some elegiac...but none would be
uninteresting." I
rarely read novels but after reading a review of "Circle of
Friends" by Penelope Stokes, I had to know the story. It is a tale
of four women who leave college as close friends and pledge to keep in
touch via a circle journal they continually pass among them. What
struck me was the intriguing level of drama in each life. It makes you
wish there was a complete novel or biography on each of them. About
the time I read Spencer's words, I had been sorting out on a table
pictures from different decades of my life as well as pictures of my
children. I had forgotten how much action there has been in my life. We
are so numbed by the mundane mortar of our days that we fail to back off
and see the art show we have hung on the wall of our individual lives. One
of my dearest friends is severely retarded. You might wonder what kind
of novel could be written about a person with those limitations. He
endured almost two years of neglect and physical abuse so severe that
it either caused or contributed to his retardation. In the next chapter
he is rescued by a loving woman who wanted him and nurtured him in every
possible way. His life turns out to be an exciting saga of adventure and
achievement against incredible odds. Yes
indeed, a great novel could be written about each person. If you don't
believe it, it may be that you are not paying attention to the unfolding
of your own life. It is literally unfolding like the pages of a novel
and you have not allowed it to captivate you. It
may be that feelings of unworthiness keep you from seeing the worth of
your life in a novel. We
have all been baptized repeatedly face forward in the poison waters of
unworthiness. It's a wonder we haven't been dissolved like an Alka
Seltzer. But wouldn't each of those baptizings make a gripping chapter
in a novel of your life? If
you keep a daily journal you know how true it is that a novel could be
written about each and every one of us. I can spend a single day reading
through my journal and see pain and pleasure, defeat and victory, love
and despair, vindictiveness and vindication and everything one could
ever read in a novel. A
dear friend recently complained to me that she was often depressed over
the drabness of her life. I
could tell from her email that she is an excellent writer with fantastic
ability to paint word pictures and make boring details come alive. I
suggested she write about her own life and share it with her family. She
has shared some of these writings with me and I am certain her
grandchildren will be laughing and crying over her words a half century
from now. I
am not telling you your life is any more special than the lives of
others. What I am telling you is that your life is special. I am telling
you your life is as special as the life of any other person who has ever
lived. Honor it. It
may never be written up in the chapters of a novel but write it up
in the pages of your own mind. Dalton's
website is www.daltonroberts.com
and his writings are gathered at www.ipsfeatures.com.
|
