If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?
The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie. "One word of truth outweighs the world."
It is not because the truth is too difficult to see that we make mistakes. It may even lie on the surface; but we make mistakes because the easiest and most comfortable course for us is to seek insight where it accords with our emotions — especially selfish ones.
Violence can only be concealed by a lie, and the lie can only be maintained by violence. Any man who has once proclaimed violence as his method is inevitably forced to take the lie as his principle.
One should never direct people towards happiness, because happiness too is an idol of the market-place. One should direct them towards mutual affection. A beast gnawing at its prey can be happy too, but only human beings can feel affection for each other, and this is the highest achievement they can aspire to.
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Love the song, hate the video.
August 22, 1955 — March 26, 2009
I will write more about my dad in time, but this is the man in summary.
Before I share the eulogy I presented, it must be said plainly that my dad was one of the strongest, most honest, humblest, and truest Christians I have ever known or heard of. I say this not because he was my father but because it is the truth. Ask anyone.
All of the bad things I see in religion, my dad proved to me that they need not be true. He was not a hypocrite. He was intelligent and forgiving, and did not judge but love. I admire my dad for the twenty-seven years of unswerving devotion to me as a son, but also for his qualities as a wonderful, beautiful, simple human being.
Here is what I said at his funeral. His faith was his life, so I focused more on that than anything else.
I wish none of us were sitting in this room right now.
Gary Lee Hathcock...the name sounds a little odd to me. He was Daddy. And Daddy was the big man who helped this little boy every day of his life.
My first memory is of early morning sunlight pouring through yellow curtains in our kitchen. It was Sunday morning and Daddy was making breakfast before church. He always made sure we went to church as a family, as his wonderful father had done.
And, like Buddy Hathcock, my dad was a hard worker, a skilled and thoughtful worker who wouldn't send off a cabinet until it was perfect. Daddy built store fixtures all of his life. As a very small boy I remember him coming home to eat lunch with his family [smile]. Afterward, as he headed for the door, I would usually latch myself to his leg. I didn't want him to leave. As my dad and I reminisced recently, he told me how much he loved it when I would do that.
If you wanted to know the truth about my dad, there was no way to get it from him. He was too humble.
For example, he was a brilliant man. Daddy would never tell you what an excellent chess player he was. His trophies sit today where they always have: in a cabinet, dusty. In the fall of 1977, Chess Life published an article by Larry Evans, which touted a strategy that the grandmaster believed impenetrable. In the spring of 1978 Chess Life published a letter from Gary Hathcock of Norwood, NC which showed a way around the strategy. ...But the greatest joy my dad received from chess was playing with his friends and his three-year-old son.
His beautiful guitar playing was rarely heard in public. The hours I spent listening to him strum were cherished. "Please play one more. Just one more, Daddy, please." He would.
His favorite music was what he heard in church. That's why he loved to sing in the choir.
My dad was our Earthly rock. My mother would tell you that he was her encourager, her strength, as he was always, always optimistic (to which I'm sure many others can attest). He was blessed as peacemaker.
...He bore the load for my mom, me, and my brother, worked so hard for us, always did his best to ensure our happiness.
When Carlyn was born, I was jealous. [Smile] I wanted Daddy all to myself. But of course, Daddy quickly showed me what a blessing a brother is. ...And my dad had similar effects on people--they loved to be around him. Over the past two days nearly everyone has said the following: ... "I am shocked." ... "There was no man better." ... "I will miss him."
The beach is my favorite place on this planet; I love it. I talk about it frequently, but I didn't realize until about five hours ago exactly why. ...I love it because my dad loved it. He was in love with sunshine and nature because he saw everything as God's....marveled because God had made it. ...It is beauty.
Gary Hathcock was many things, but there are a greater number of things he was not.
He was not selfish: ...he gave what he had away to others... he was selfless.
He was not proud: ...his elderly Honda Civic, his trademark blue plaid shirts and jeans, his permanent reserved manner. He was meek, humble.
He was not envious: ...his faith, family, and church were more than sufficient. He was empathetic and generous.
He was not worldly: ...he did not think of this place in any terms but their direct relationship with the ethereal.
And... He certainly was neither complicated nor artificial: ...he knew that the fashion of this world is passing away. ..So he never attempted to serve but one master.
I do not mean to say that he was without sin. That is impossible. But he did the most profound thing a person can do: he tried, sincerely. He lived in this way not for fear of hell, nor to qualify for heaven, but simply because he knew that is how God wanted him to be. My dad strove to walk as much like Jesus as he could. He made it look easy.
I am not saying these things due to my prejudice, though I am certainly biased [smile]. But... to prove that my dad truly possessed such qualities, speak with anyone who knew him; not his sons or wife or brothers, but anyone who knew him, even briefly. ...For me, he is the exemplar of living life to the best of we feeble, deficient human beings' very limited capacity.
I've used a lot of adjectives to describe my Daddy. If I were forced to choose one, I guess it would be: genuine. He never had to try to be certain way. That was just him.
I was so fortunate--blessed--to be one of the closest people in Gary Hathcock's life. And I want you to know, as I know to be fact, that Gary Hathcock was the same man in public as he was at home with his family, and as he was in complete privacy.
...My mom told me this morning, "When your dad spoke, people truly listened, because they never had to think what he might mean, it always came from an honest heart."
And I heard someone say last night, "Either you loved Gary, or you hadn't met him yet."
I've heard myself, my brother, and my mother ask recently, "What are we going to do, now?", ..."How can we continue without him?", ..."What..are we going ..to do?" ......We're selfish [half smile] : we want him back.
I have to tell myself, remind myself, what Daddy would want us to do, and what he would say. ...If my dad could speak here now, he would tell you, all, that he loves you. ...He would say "Thank you." ...He would speak about how much he loves his family and his church family. ...He would almost certainly make one of his dorky jokes... say with a big smile how he's looking forward to Vacation Bible School, which he loved so much. And then he would change the subject, because he firmly believed that "It's Not About Me."
...But we might overhear him say "Right toe on the left foot!" ..."Sure Enough." ...Or the ever classic, "10-4."
Most of all, he would want me to say the following, which he had written on pieces of paper and framed in different places in our home: ...."For God so loved the world... that he gave his only begotten Son... that whosoever believeth in him should not perish... but have everlasting life."
I have no disagreements with this data.
"I mean, let's face it, we didn't have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: slavery built the South. I'm not saying we should bring it back; I'm just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark."
"Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?"
"You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray [the confessed assassin of Martin Luther King]. We miss you, James. Godspeed."
"The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies."
"Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it."
Once, in response to a caller arguing that black people need to be heard, Limbaugh responded: "They're 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?"
To a black caller: "Take that bone out of your nose and call me back."
— Rush Limbaugh
Crush.
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the Universe, and feel
What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.
— Lord Byron
I was listening to this earlier tonight and almost had a heart attack. I was cackling like a stoned witch at this track.
These are not photos. They were painted in oils.
There's something sweetly serene and sincere about street photography.
Martha Cooper's long and beautiful career is getting some recognition here. She's worked with National Geographic and New York Post among others. She's most well-known for her documentation of New York's graffiti culture in the 1970s and '80s.
Believe it or not, this is Abraham Lincoln...probably. He's in his early thirties here.
Numerous accounts have revealed that Lincoln underwent a noticeable change in his physical appearance beginning in January 1841 as a result of a grave emotional crisis. This coincides with his reported failure to go through with his scheduled marriage to Mary Todd, leaving her literally waiting for him at the altar. (They were married the following year.) This emotional crisis, just one of a series of such episodes to plague him throughout his life, was the cause of Lincoln losing a considerable amount of weight.
Young Lincoln was known to be muscular and extremely powerful. The older Lincoln was much thinner, and also prematurely aged by personal problems and the responsibility and anguish of the office he held during perhaps the greatest crisis the United States has ever undergone.
(via kottke)
Hint: this one is my favorite and would be a great gift for me.
Pretty nighttime photos: http://wearesleepinggiants.com/
This one's for my wife.
New York photographer Flora Hanitijo.
Milhouse: Boy, Bart, Laddie's the best dog in the world. He's a lot different than your old dog.
Bart: Santa's Little Helper? I guess I was the only one who loved him.
Milhouse: You got that right. Remember the time Santa's Little Helper ate my goldfish, and you lied and said I never had any goldfish? Well, why did I have the bowl, Bart? Why did I have the bowl?
Photo by Ten Directions
After reading The Mysterious Stranger I found this awesome, creepy stop motion video.
Bubble Calendar: a poster-sized calendar with a bubble to pop every day.
"There are plenty of good reasons for fighting," I said, "but no good reason ever to hate without reservation, to imagine that God Almighty Himself hates with you, too. Where's evil? It's that large part of every man that wants to hate without limit, that wants to hate with God on its side." — Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night
From Of Time and the City (2008) by Terence Davies
Some people are still trying to ban profanity? Yeah, they are. What the fuck?
There's more in the archives.
