For the last couple of weeks, I\u2019ve been smugly telling myself that because of the recent cold weather I wouldn\u2019t have to cut the grass until June or July or something.\u00a0 But recent walks through the fields revealed the absurdity of this notion.\u00a0 There were a couple-a-three spots that I neglected to cut at the end of last growing season and those areas were horrendous.\u00a0 And the rest of it was overgrown to a greater or lesser extent depending on whether those areas get more or less light.<\/p>\n
So, when I heard that Saturday would be sunny in the morning and rainy in the afternoon, I resolved Friday night to get up early and cut it in the morning.\u00a0 Well, of course I forgot all about that because as a special treat, Camera Girl was making pancakes and that along with a good cup of coffee is a holiday to me.\u00a0 After all, pancakes and syrup are just plain carbohydrates with no redeeming quality other than human joy.\u00a0 But at a quarter to eleven I realized that I\u2019d forgotten the grass and ran outside and started doing the perimeter with the push mower.\u00a0 And it was eighty degrees and I was sweating like a pig and my safety goggles (for mayfly prevention) were fogging up and I had to keep stopping to clear them with my handkerchief.\u00a0 And then I did all the crummy areas that wouldn\u2019t get done right by the sit-down mower and by then it was noon.\u00a0 So, I had my lunch and then ran out and started around the yard trying to finish it before the rain came.\u00a0 And I did, but just barely.\u00a0 Then I took a shower and put on a movie I like watching whenever it\u2019s on TCM; \u201cA Man for All Seasons.\u201d<\/p>\n
And this movie always has the same effect on me.\u00a0 It makes me serenely happy.\u00a0 Not because the movie has a happy ending.\u00a0 Because at the end Sir Thomas More is convicted of a crime based on perjured testimony by a former friend and in the final scene he has his head cut off.\u00a0 And not because the story is exciting or the events change the course of history.\u00a0 It\u2019s not.\u00a0 It\u2019s a very small story.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s only because the acting and the dialog of the lead actor and several of the other cast members is remarkable.\u00a0 The conversations between the lead actor (Paul Scofield) with his family, friends and even bitter enemies is altogether compelling.\u00a0 The character displays a combination of intelligence, compassion, honesty, moral clarity and courage that I find inspirational.\u00a0 Here is a man who is trapped between an egocentric and possibly unhinged absolute monarch and the toadies and sharks that act as his enablers, but remains faithful to his religious convictions.\u00a0 As long as lawful means are employed, More is able to hold off a charge of treason.\u00a0 But his most malevolent enemy (Thomas Cromwell, played ably by Leo McKern) finally employs perjury and this seals More\u2019s fate.<\/p>\n
But as interesting as the final duel at the trial is, the real payoff is More\u2019s final meeting with his wife in the prison.\u00a0 Seeing these two opposites, one a highly intellectual scholar and the other a woman who could not even read, is wonderfully moving.\u00a0 As she scolds him for his failure to yield and he attempts to placate her we see the enormous affection and love between them and understand just how much he is sacrificing for his beliefs.<\/p>\n
And as I was watching this familiar movie it occurred to me that here was a story that had none of the attributes that supposedly make a good piece of art.\u00a0 It was backward-looking rather than forward.\u00a0 It was basically a grievance story.\u00a0 It lacked action, pacing or any of the other characteristics of a book or movie that makes them promising prospects.<\/p>\n
What it did possess was human interest.\u00a0 It showcased the noble characteristics of a man and allowed him to make a stand against the world.\u00a0 So, in a sense, a book does not have to have the perfect plot and pacing.\u00a0 What it needs are human beings who can make us believe they are real and make us care what happens to them.<\/p>\n
And that way of writing a story seems clearer to me than the other ways of framing the process.\u00a0 I think I\u2019ll apply that same test to my own writing.\u00a0 Seems about right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For the last couple of weeks, I\u2019ve been smugly telling myself that because of the recent cold weather I wouldn\u2019t have to cut the grass<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2510,1289,818,1263],"tags":[2931,76,2589,1290,4290],"class_list":["post-33139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-literature","category-fiction-by-me","category-ocf","category-stuff-that-personally-interests-me-miscellaneous","tag-a-man-for-all-seasons","tag-fiction-writing","tag-leo-mckern","tag-my-fiction","tag-paul-scofield"],"yoast_head":"\n