Letters From Josh
9/5/22 Vol. 98
Howdy, folks! Happy Labor Day and all that jazz. It sure was fun to see a bunch of you over the last few days! The “mini tour” back to the DC area to spin records and dance the hula badly was more fun than a barrel of monkeys (who were doused in coffee and shaken well.) There was also a good amount of family visiting. My father is knee-deep in a study of Grant and the Civil war. Pearl Harbor and the French Revolution have been capturing my attention lately, so there was lots of history and calamity talk. (You can’t take us anywhere.)
Checking out Dad’s church
Case in point: chilling with friends recently, I asked one if she knew anything about the French Revolution. I’m particularly intrigued at the modern parallels. She looked mildly annoyed. “No, I’m not French.” I’m not either. But I do appreciate the contiguous nature of my shoulders, neck, and head. (Unfortunately, this was a “3 AM” line, and at the time I just said “Oh.” )
The study of history seems to be increasing in importance. Maybe I’m just an alarmist, but most folks I talk to seem to agree: There’s something in the air. Robespierre and Grant seem less abstract. What can we glean by a closer look?
While visiting the Manassas battlefield (Civil War), I started thinking in maps and tactics, the metric being soldiers and field pieces. Suddenly, eying two positions of cannon, neighbor aiming to shred neighbor, the cliched question popped up: how did this happen?
A cold wind blew over the empty field, seeming to say “it started long before Grant and Lee faced off.” Before that, it was the politicians. But before that? I’d be a fool to pin it to a single cause, although a broad enough theme might net a few grains of truth: Trouble starts when we stop seeing each other.
A quick story to bring the point to life: Once, there was this girl (no, not the bee humiliation story from last week), and man, we would get to arguing about arcane policy on the phone. It was shocking how easy it was to try to put someone in a box over an idea that wasn’t even theirs. When we could remember who the other person was, when we could see them, well, then it was OK. We’d laugh, the ice suddenly broken, and remember we loved each other, and we were way more complex than any stupid talking point (or even an entire ideological system.)
Along the same lines, not only was it fun to visit you all last week, it was good. Good to remember how nuanced each person is, good to see our connection, good to see each other. Let’s keep looking. It seems important.
- Josh
No sleep till Rusburg! Loading out of show #4 in Woodbridge, VA