In The Wilderness ~four~

~four~

My routine is plain and simple. I read (study) prior to daybreak the verse, poetry and prose for the day from "DAILY STRENGTH FOR DAILY NEEDS" selected by Mary Wilder Tileston and originally published in 1849 and given to my great-grandfather from his daughter, Nana, on Christmas of 1945. I follow the daily reading with the corresponding verse and complete chapter from the ragged and marked King James Bible (what else?) of my Papa's. This part of routine is always followed to the letter and the rest of the day's readings are followed rather loosely, but sincerely. After breakfast, it's "The Fourth Turning: An American Prophesy" by William Strauss and Neil Howe, 1997 (don't trust any prophesy written after 2001). This is the second book I've read from these two wonderful authors. They continue here with an illuminating study of 100 year cycles in English/American history. After dinner (that's lunch for those who wonder), it's "The Sun and the Moon: The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists, and Lunar Man-Bats, in Nineteenth-Century New York" by Matthew Goodman, 2008. This fascinating book of non-fiction reads like a novel and vividly describes the 'lively' newspaper business in the city of New York during the 1830's. At night, tucked in bed, it's "The Antagonists" by Ernest K. Gann, 1970. I lifted this little red book from the fifth-floor of Baptist Medical Center--my home away from home--and Gann dramatically describes an intense, psychological relationship between some proud Jews and Romans around 50 A.D. I can't tell if this book is part and parcel fiction or non-fiction and that just makes it more riveting for me just before I retire from the day. My daily study is rounded out by the book I choose to carry with me to the pot, Susan Forward's "Emotional Blackmail: When the People in Your Life Use Fear; Obligation and Guilt to Manipulate You", 1997. I checked this book out at the Cherokee County Public Library thinking 'I' was the victim only to be shocked to find out that 'I' was the emotional blackmailer as well and a pretty nasty one at that. I guess we study to learn, but, man . . . this was a tough pill to swallow. This is the present, now we turn to the past.