Consider these words from John Gardner (1912-2002), founder of Common Cause.
Meaning is not something that you stumble across, like the answer to a riddle or the prize in a treasure hunt. Meaning is something you build into your life. You build it out of your own past, out of your affections and loyalties, out of the experience of humankind as it is passed on to you, out of your talent and understanding, out of the things you believe in, out of the things and people you love, out of the values for which you are willing to sacrifice something. The ingredients are there. You are the only one who can put them together into that unique pattern that will be your life. Let it be a life that has dignity and meaning for you. If it does, then the particular balance of success and failure is of less account.
In a speech that you can read here in full, Gardner told how a man had written to him from Colorado, saying that his twenty-year-old daughter had been killed recently in a car accident. At the time of her death, this paragraph of Gardner’s was in her billfold.
The letter writer expressed his gratitude. The fact that his daughter had kept these words close to her had revealed something about her values and concerns that he might not otherwise have known.
All of which is to say, my friend—you and I never know how the words we say might be carried by others.
(My thanks to the late John Gardner, via Rod McIver and this post at
.)The Gentle Nudge
Join other Rafters this week for . . .
WEDNESDAY: Creatives’ Coffee (Zoom, 4:00-5:00PM Central, at this link)
THURSDAY: Poetry Pick-Me-Up (Zoom, 12:00-1:00PM Central, at this link)
🧡 Thanks for reading! As part of The Raft, this newsletter is kept afloat by beautiful readers like you. If you like my work, please sustain it by sharing it with a friend, becoming a Raft patron, buying my books, or inviting me to speak. And remember to add your 2¢ by leaving comments!
>>>All of which is to say, my friend—you and I never know how the words we say might be carried by others.<<< Yes, indeed, to this truth. Ongoing thanks for all the ways YOU work with WORDS!
Just amazing how a string of disparate words can capture a thought, concept, idea etc., and touch us to our core. That you can distill feelings and concepts into a few well crafted words is like a force of nature. Gardner was a force for dignity and care; he also founded the Experience Corp. For anyone unfamiliar with Rod McGiver, many thanks Phyllis for the mention. Have followed him since his early days he has been a verbal and visual lifesaver at times. You two are most definitely kindred spirits.