Endurance

Reading At The Same Time--Susan Sontag's last book of essays and speeches--I realize how much we have in common, despite the fact I don't write literature and have never found her's to be my cup of tea. Discovering this new-found respect for someone I really didn't know previously, is somehow comforting in that it illustrates for me the pointless concern of writing to an audience as opposed to writing to a topic.

Her avidity, as her son describes it, is something I suspect all writers of conscience endure as a necessary part of their vocation, and listening to her put it into the context of an active and celebrated literary persona unafraid of offending the offensive, creates a connection I find pleasantly surprising and humbling.

The triumph of spirit over circumstance has possibilities for solidarity I overlooked.

I drifted into a spiritual vacuum. The armor of apathy which had saved me from suffering and screaming crushed any tender stirrings within me, and turned my heart to stone.

--Willy Peter Reese, A Stranger to Myself