October 13
Just watched the prez debate and subsequent commentary from a hotel room in Lander, WY. CNN victory poll: Kerry 52%, Bush 39%. I will spare the reader any conclusions of mine except that Ann Coulter is a venomous bitch as rational as a pit viper.
I sat in a café in Stanford, MT a few days ago with Dad and his old law partner, Fred Overby. We had just finished the morning hunt. The dogs – Fred’s nine French brittanies and Chap, an American brittany – were napping in their dogboxes outside. We leaned back in our chairs and waited for our food. I brought up my potential employment in Tucson – an environmental education outfit had expressed interest in hiring me to lead 12-person crews for the next two months.
“Do you want my opinion?” Dad asked.
“Yes.”
He advised that I keep wandering. Wandering would be more fun, he said, and as an employer, travel is impressive in its own right. Granted, leading environmental crews would be more impressive on a résumé, but the difference was slight. And with interests as wide as mine – outdoor education, writing, geology, politics – I ought to keep roaming, reading, observing. Living as broadly as I could while I had the chance.
“Sounds good to me,” Fred said. He sipped his coffee. Fred is a deferential man. He wouldn’t to proffer such advice to someone else’s son directly.
Dad nodded. “But you do what you want to do.”
I’m still on the road because I took his advice. Dad has a rare ability to take myriad considerations, rank them by their relevance, draw logical lines through them and formulate a rational conclusion on the basis of all available evidence. This is the universal basis of good judgment. Dad is not an ideologue. He is wise enough to acknowledge complexity. He does not seize upon a single prejudicial consideration and then banish all others from his mind. We leave that to Ann Coulter.
I sat in a café in Stanford, MT a few days ago with Dad and his old law partner, Fred Overby. We had just finished the morning hunt. The dogs – Fred’s nine French brittanies and Chap, an American brittany – were napping in their dogboxes outside. We leaned back in our chairs and waited for our food. I brought up my potential employment in Tucson – an environmental education outfit had expressed interest in hiring me to lead 12-person crews for the next two months.
“Do you want my opinion?” Dad asked.
“Yes.”
He advised that I keep wandering. Wandering would be more fun, he said, and as an employer, travel is impressive in its own right. Granted, leading environmental crews would be more impressive on a résumé, but the difference was slight. And with interests as wide as mine – outdoor education, writing, geology, politics – I ought to keep roaming, reading, observing. Living as broadly as I could while I had the chance.
“Sounds good to me,” Fred said. He sipped his coffee. Fred is a deferential man. He wouldn’t to proffer such advice to someone else’s son directly.
Dad nodded. “But you do what you want to do.”
I’m still on the road because I took his advice. Dad has a rare ability to take myriad considerations, rank them by their relevance, draw logical lines through them and formulate a rational conclusion on the basis of all available evidence. This is the universal basis of good judgment. Dad is not an ideologue. He is wise enough to acknowledge complexity. He does not seize upon a single prejudicial consideration and then banish all others from his mind. We leave that to Ann Coulter.
posted by Jeb Butler at 11:11 AM
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