PANDEMIC DIARY: DAY 113

David Brooks is best known as a commentator/writer at the New York Times. I have been reading his columns for some time, 6 to 8 years. I am predisposed to the idea that too much of a good thing is not a good thing. So I try not to immerse in any single source, no matter how compelling or how good it makes me feel. But I do lean heavily on several highly regarded thinkers to help me with mental gymnastics. How many correlated facts and opinions can I keep in the air (juggle) at one time. I’ve kept Brooks at arm’s length for the sake of single source fatigue but digging in that hole again feels right. 

We don’t need a profile on either his story or the stories he writes. But they read so well I feel inadequate when I try to frame language with balance, clarity and purpose. He has been labeled a moderate conservative but with politics upside down, you sense moderation much more than conservatism. I just read his posts from June and into July. It has been a while since I treated myself to his point of view. I always (almost always) come away with the feeling; if I could write like he writes, that is what I would have written. 

Other trusted sources include Yuval Harari, Jonathan Haidt, Daniel Lieberman, E.O. Wilson, et al. From human behavior to human history, I’ve pretty much maxed out with them. Their stories lay down a cause/effect grid that you can plot and graph. Brooks navigates in a social matrix with a snapshot of the present, providing a sound/sight bite for this particular place in time. His opinions reflect keen insight and deeply rooted values; admittedly though, one can’t be sure which one predicates the other. We are humans and we are always looking for ways to make our task easier, like trying to determine where we live. We live in a zip code but within that, our house, that’s a no-brainer but inside our house we live inside our own skin. When you try to make things simple, something is lost. Without caveats and applied mathematics, all you get are blurred vision and good intentions. 

With pandemic spreading unchecked, I have plenty of computer time for digging out better stories. Then there is the wisdom of, “When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.” So much for word play. I wish I were the one to have written Brooks’ NY Times post from May 28, “If We Only Had A Leader”. The same is true for his offerings of June 25 and July 2. I get a hollow feeling in my soul when I see my nation, see my countrymen, seeing our leadership fail so miserably in this global meltdown. What does it say about us when small but advanced cultures like New Zealand and Korea demonstrate both a clear, righteous command and a disciplined, selfless response? This is day 111. I’m still buttoned up in my cave with no end in sight. I really do need a hair cut.