Purdy Good

Good morning from a basement out here in the middle of Minnesota. I hope this missive finds you and yours feeling hearty and hale as the autumnal season marches ever onward.

The girls stayed over at a friend’s house last night, so it was just Audrey, the young fellow, and me. Pizza for dinner, and early evening capped with reading in bed. I took a brief pause from Brandon Sanderson’s Yumi and the Nightmare Painter because I’ve also been rereading Jim Butcher’s The Aeronaut’s Windlass ahead of the release of its follow-up, and it’s due back at the library in a few days. It’s been long enough since my first read through, so the characters, settings, and plot feel new again. Should be able to finish this one by the end of today, so I can get back to the Sanderson.

While today is Veteran’s Day, the school district celebrated it yesterday. There’s a program every year, rotating from school to school, and this year the high school was responsible for putting this together. Local veterans from each branch of the armed services were invited as honored guests, and the keynote speaker was a local woman who’s son is currently serving in the Marine Corps.

The program got me thinking about Jake Meador’s book, In Search of the Common Good, in which the author spends a good deal of time discussing the importance of building community—first within the immediate family structure, and then beyond to larger and larger groups. He includes this great passage from one of Wendell Berry’s books—can’t remember the title right now—about how the farmer recognizes that farm and all it encompasses is much larger than any individual, especially himself. He dedicates his life and work to the success of the farm knowing that the farm will long outlast him, and that he may never even get to experience the full potential of the land and its yield.

Every person, every individual drawing breath on this planet matters, has dignity, has worth, but are not more important than the communities, both small and large to which they belong.

Those who’ve served in our nation’s armed services are shining examples of those who recognized the larger community was more important than the individual, and they placed their individuality beneath the community in service of the nation. So heaps of gratitude to our veteran service men and women, as well as those currently serving. May God bless you and keep you and return you home safely.

I’ll close for now. Thanks kindly for reading and take care.

Huzzah,

Purdy