A Meaningful Decision

 

                                                                    A Meaningful Decision

This enthusiasm for great music eventually led to a major change in my outlook on life. One morning as I was standing in front of the bathroom mirror shaving away the fuzz that held the incipient promise of a real beard, I was reflecting on this love for good music that had unexpectedly come into my life, when it occurred to me that there were other areas of art that held the potential for fulfilling exploration. This thought jumped into my mind: “If I only have one life to live, why not devote it to the best that life has to offer?”

I had enjoyed reading as a pastime since early childhood, and now I resolved to acquire a taste for the literature that was reputed to be “great”. That would include poetry and drama in addition to the novels and short stories that I had been reading – reading almost voraciously. As I mentioned earlier, this reading had begun before I reached school age with fairy tales and comics. Then, through my grade school years and into high school I galloped through a series of novels, beginning with adventure stories of the days of sailboat whalers, sports stories, romantic stories by women writers, mystery stories (I preferred the logical deduction detectives Dupin and Sherlock Holmes over the popular private eye sleuths like Sam Spade and Nero Wolfe), etc.

But now, as a result of that little inspiration, I decided to concentrate my reading on works of the great authors. Fortuitously, that decision coincided with my encounter with an English teacher that provided support, guidance, and inspiration for the project.

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