Redtree Times

Maestro— Now at West End Gallery, Corning, NY

“The best thing for being sad,” replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, “is to learn something. That’s the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn.”

–T. H. White, The Once and Future King

Not sure what I want to say this morning. Not sure I want to say anything at all. Kind of a glum feeling this morning. I know the feeling well, having felt it countless times over the years. I’ve learned how to deal with it.

One way is pretty well defined in the advice Merlin gave to the young squire Wart (destined to later be King Arthur) in The Once and Future King from T.H. White. The book was written as a series of novels during the early years f World War II and was loosely based on the Sir Thomas Mallory‘s 15th century classic, Le Morte d’Arthur, which gave us the legend of Arthur as we know it. White saw Mallory’s book and his own as ultimately being about the quest to end war. Both books advocate for knowledge and wisdom as the path to this end.

Turns out it also helps take the edge off a dark mood. And maybe it is this same sort of darkness that ultimately drives wars and violence?

And on cue, here’s my constant refrain: I don’t know.

But I find that on these dark mornings, asking such questions and trying to find some sort of answer, or even a hint of one, acts as a kind of antidote to my glumness. It gives me a chance to change my arc of thought. And hopefully that will carry me out of darkness and into a better day.

Thankfully, it often works. Not always. But enough that it is a dependable part of my toolkit, the first tool I reach for on those glum days. It’s probably the reason I have persevered in maintaining this blog for over 15 years now.

It must work– I haven’t started a war in the past 15 years.

That brings us to a song to tie up this triad. It’s a new song from another favorite of mine, Glen Hansard, called Bearing Witness. It is from his new album All That Was East Is West Of Me Now. It might not be a perfect fit today but I love the chorus:

‘Cause it’s not what you’re given
But what you do with it
And it’s not the road less travelled
But how you choose to live

That kind of feels like a summary of my artistic career and maybe my life.

You make the most of what you got, as they say. Whatever it takes to get to the next day.

See? It works. I started this post glum and with nothing to say. I’m not saying that I said a lot here but I do feel better. Now, on to this day.