I am finally reading again. It’s been around 18 weeks since my good friend, Larry, died suddenly. He was my favorite reading mate. He and I turned each other onto books. I got him to read The Talent Code. He got me to read Talent is Overrated. I got him to appreciate Quinn and his books. He got me to appreciate Adler and his.
Since he’s been gone, I’ve been unable to read anything and have it hold my attention. I start and then stop. It’s as if my body is willing but my spirit knows that there will be no debate, no perspective, no laughter, no other ideas, no Larry.
Today, however, I am reading and I don’t want to stop.
My mind and spirit are moving together. I reintroduced myself to one of my favorite authors, Os Guinness. I’m currently rereading one of his books titled, The Great Experiment. Here’s a piece from his book that is actually a quote from another book I’ll be rereading soon as well. This next read is authored by a dead Frenchie named Alexis de Tocqueville and his book is titled, Democracy in America. Alexis toured America 50 years after our founding and did so with one friend and his feet. He walked the entire country, it seems, interviewing the populace and drawing his conclusions about why our run toward democracy had been more tidy than his country’s.
I wholeheartedly recommend both reads. Here’s a taste from both, if you will…
“It was religion that gave birth to the English colonies in America. One must never forget that. I think I can see the whole destiny of America contained in the first Puritan who landed on those shores, as that of the whole human race in the first man. Despotism may be able to do without faith, but freedom cannot. When a people’s religion is destroyed…then not only will they let their freedom be taken from them, but often they actually hand it over themselves.”
Thanks for the reminder, Os. Thanks for the quote, Alexis. Thanks for everything, Larry.
Tell me more, my friends. Tell me more…
BUILT TO LEAD 
Chet, if you want, I’ll go one-on-one with you on de Tocqueville. I’m no L-Train, but I love both Democracy and America, and have the context from my History degree from another Frenchie’s school and a lot of reading since! Let me know.
Glad you’re back in the reading saddle again, Chet. The offer is always open if you want to read any of Larry’s copies…seeing his notes may help you feel like he’s still working through the topics with you. He loved Os and de Toqueville, too, BTW.
Check out “Island at the Center of the World” by Russell Shorto. He makes a pretty good argument that it was the Dutch, not the English, who defined American culture. We learn the English version of the story because – well, the English were the victors.