November 7, 2025 - Good Morning! It’s Friday, November 7.
I’ve been musing this morning on the fickleness of fame. There have always been famous people who are deemed “unworthy” of their notoriety. People who are infamous because of evil deeds, or those who become well known through some odd trick of celebrity (any member of the Kardashian family). But, all in all, we still assume that if you have enough talent, history is bound to reward you with fame. History, however, tells us that this is often a false assumption.
Emily Dickinson is considered to be one of America’s greatest poets. She’s one of my favorites. But, in her entire life, she only managed to get ten of her poems published. Edgar Allan Poe, a giant of American literature, was never able to support himself as a writer. Vincent Van Gogh sold only one painting in his life, for the equivalent of nine dollars. His work, “Starry Night”, is now estimated to be worth in excess of one billion dollars. And Johann Sebastian Bach, during his lifetime, was regarded, when regarded at all, as merely an organist. His compositions were largely ignored for a century after his death, when they became recognized as the pinnacle of music. The list goes on and on. Fickle fame.
And then there is this.
He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held public office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never traveled more than 200 miles from the place he grew up. He never did any of the things that usually accompany greatness. But all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the governments that ever ruled, all the kings that ever reigned - put together - have not affected the life of mankind upon this earth as powerfully... as this one solitary life.
Meet you back here on Monday,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com
