On Chasing Neighbors With Swords
I've hear it said that on certain occasions, a quiet Oxford philologist called J.R.R. Tolkien used to dress up in a full suit of armor and chase his neighbors around the block while wielding a sword. Some might explain this rather odd behavior as evidence that Mr. Tolkien was beginning to take his fantastic literary creations a little too seriously and was surely on the path to madness. Instead, I would suggest this is clear evidence that the man was sane.
Outbursts of silliness - of imaginative, playful silliness - can be incomparable medicine for the soul; they free us of the seriousness of the world, of the grave and heavy tones of the mundane. The political world is imperialistic. Left and right are ever joined in an effort to colonize every possible world, to make the least of our dreams or the greatest of our loves a slave to their rhetoric. It is likewise with the world business. A professor who has never heard a joke argues that supply and demand are more important for human happiness than laughter, and soon enough only the utopias of Adam Smith or Karl Marx are the ones laughing. But not only towering philosophies cast shadows. I think most of the time it is our own towers that are the tallest. We take ourselves so seriously that we make the little things in our daily lives matters of grave concern. The question of choosing what to wear each morning soon becomes "What will others think of me today?" and even "What will I think of myself?" We all think so much of ourselves (even those with "low self-esteem," I would suggest) that the thought of others not being impressed by us soon becomes unbearable. This is not only true regarding our friends and family, sometimes the possibility that a complete stranger might think us ridiculous can be downright terrifying.
But of course, what is ridiculous is not us but an idea like that. A wise man has said that angels fly because they take themselves lightly. There may be more than mere fancy in such a thought. The "ridiculous" J.R.R. Tolkien had a mind that could soar over an entire new world, full of peoples, stories, dangers, dreams... and jokes. So our duty to be silly and even
feel silly on occasion should be taken seriously. Are you a trendy dresser? How about wearing the first clothes you find in your dad's closet (or mom's, as the case may be) before going to the movies? Are you known for your sober or classy looks? How about painting your hair purple for a couple of weeks? Are you concerned with taking care of your "coolness" factor? How about singing loudly as you walk somewhere (while sober)? Do you see yourself as an intellectual? Why not admit you were touched by the latest chick flick you watched in secret? Adam Sandler's "Fifty First Dates," for example?
Pride, ego, a reputation, call it what you will, these things do not come without chains. Silliness breaks those chains and turns them into a source of laughter and good memories. Practice looking like a fool. I seriously advise it.
Not a Trifle
Michael Alberico was a U.S. citizen who spent decades of his life living, working, and taking care of his wife and three kids in Colombia. Although his family moved to Washington, D.C. a few years ago, Michael so loved this land that he made arrangements so that he could work there several months out of the year and then spend the rest with his family in the U.S. Yesterday I found out that Michael was shot and killed in Cali, my home town, last Saturday after getting some cash out of the ATM. It was around one in the afternoon when this happened. He was merely running an errand. His wife, Luz Marina, had to stay in D.C. with their younger children, while their eldest, Thomas (of about 20), had to go back to Colombia on his own to bury his father. As my mom accurately pointed out, in Colombia you risk your life just running errands.
How sickening. How disgusting. How shameful. I am ashamed of my country right now. I am even scared of it. How much corruption there is. How much sin, greed, death. President Uribe cannot save our country - only God can do that now. Let us hope we have not completely forgotten Him.
Please pray for the soul of Michael Alberico and for his wife, Luz Marina, and their children, Thomas, Stephanie and Martin.
Identity Crisis
In case you haven't noticed, I haven't been updating as much as I used to. The reasons are many but they probably boil down to the fact that Tremendous Trifles has been suffering a crisis of identity. I have been rather unhappy with the site for a while and I have decided that it is time for a new beginning. And because of a very stupid mistake that cost me all the template changes I had made on the old site (including grueling hours of searching the web for stupid quotes), this will very truly feel like to me like a beginning. I am not going to do anything so drastic as deleting my old posts, but I
am going to make an effort to change the atmosphere of the site a bit.
First, I am going to try to get out of the bad habit of making this a site in which I merely forward people to articles by other authors that I happen to find interesting. I started Tremendous Trifles as an outlet of creativity and as fun way to improve my writing skills, but recently I have frankly been too lazy to do anything of the sort. That has got to stop. If you are interested in checking out the sites that I consider to have consistent intelligent insight into the dilemmas of our world then you can click on the permanent links on the sidebar to such websites as that of
First Things Magazine and the
Ethics and Public Policy Center. Also, my good friend Frank tends to have links on his page to the type of articles to which I used to link here. If you haven't visited his site, you can find it at
www.excessivecatholicism.blogspot.com.
So do I have a new vision now? Well, not exactly. The website's name, after all, is Tremendous
Trifles, and it should continue to deal with all sorts of random topics that may interest me. That said, I am going to make an effort to make the website more creative. If I live up to my promises, this means that I will do as much of my own writing as possible (instead of merely posting things written by other people); that I will try to write about a larger variety of topics; that I will include, hopefully, some short fiction; and that I will occasionally post some of my own artwork. In addition, since I am about to get started with the reading programs suggested by
The Well-Educated Mind and
The Catholic Lifetime Reading Plan (both of which I highly recommend), then I am going use this blog as the place to write down my reflections on these readings. Although I won't formally start with the program for maybe one or two months, I will probably post my thoughts on the books I have on my own reading list right now, such as
Story of a Soul,
The Cube and the Cathedral,
Crime and Punishment, and
Pride and Prejudice (I got a lot of gift certificates for graduation!).
I not sure how this new experiment will turn out, but I thank anyone who decides to come along for the ride.
