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I enjoy meeting folks I can teach and folks I can learn from. We seem to be a people without wisdom these days, often doing the wrong things for the right reasons or the right things for the wrong reasons. If we don't apply wisdom to our ever expanding knowledge, we will destroy ourselves. Our public education system seems determined to teach our young people what to think rather than how to think, and we seem to have lost the ability to debate important issues and reason together until workable solutions are found. We have forgotten our roots and have failed to learn from our history.
As for my personal heroes, there are far too many to list, most of them unknown and unsung, men and women who faced adversity with courage tempered by fear, who picked themselves up out of an assortment of muddy ditches, wiped their eyes, gritted their teeth and got on with the task at hand, great or small.
I enjoy classical music, but I suppose I prefer smaller pieces, with fewer instruments, softer more melodious sounds. I like classical guitar. I'm fond of jazz and blues. I enjoy the love songs of the forties, fifties and sixties, the musical productions of that transitional era. I prefer ballads to the harsh sounds of most modern music. I am happy when some of the truly talented performers of today reach into the past to resurrect some of those forgotten sounds. If I had to pick favorite contemporary vocal artists, I suppose they would be Amy Grant and Josh Groban.
I grew up on westerns and war movies, adventure and mystery in an era which demanded that all films be 'family' films. I enjoy the technological advances we see in modern films, but I miss the honor and patriotism seldom seen in today's productions. Without the filters available for our DVD player, very few new films would make it into our home. Our television hasn't been connected to anything but the VHS and DVD players for several years.
I enjoy the same stories in printed form as I do when told through film. Alastair MacLean was probably my favorite mystery/adventure writer; he was one of the few who could keep me guessing until the end of the book. Among western writers, I'd have to say Elmer Kelton is my favorite. But there are still many writers telling good stories; I hope I have become one of them.
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