 by Dr. Jeffrey Lant. Author's program note. This is an article of joy and celebration, of luck and commitment, of cold nights, nimble fingers on the key board, and of a wrestling with words, from which God willing emerges a case clearly understood, clearly argued, clear to all. It is an article extolling hard work and the rightful pride that comes from a job well done, that is to say a job that is based on unending, meticulous research, on precise words precisely rendered, on fairness, on boldness, audacity, and risk, for no commentator wishing to rise to reputation, eminence and renown can tackle only the easy subjects, the light and airy subjects that make readers chuckle over their morning toast, only to be forgotten at once and forever. This is an article about vision, about truth, about integrity and of tackling the difficult subjects, the subjects that rightly concern and alarm people of intellect and reason; people who rely on commentators to represent them and their desire for a better world. It is the commentator's task to rouse, motivate, anger, chastise, warn, engage, outrage, admonish and always to educate; it is his righteous task to point to where injustice lurks and where there is a worthwhile difference to be made... then summon the words in all their power, force, and majesty to make certain it will be. It is an article that reminds readers that "retirement" blights, eviscerates life and leaves one discontented, de trop, the intellectual edge gone, the need no longer apparent for getting out of bed to undertake something significant, noble, even sublime; saving a disconsolate child or a desolate nation the grand work which is our metier. In the beginning there was the word... and it was no doubt published as an article. I cannot recall a single day of my life when words and I were not in the closest possible communion, producing my first published article when just 5, over 61 years ago, then many thousands of articles (and many books, too). This is not to say, of course, that there were days, and not rare, when the words and I were not on speaking terms, each determined, before making up again, to cause infinite trouble and the kind of acute irritation only one who knows you well can connive and render just so for acute misery. The music. Before I go further into the arcane world of articles and commentators and my particular niche, I recommend you visit any search engine and listen to the film score of Orson Welles' 1941 classic "Citizen Kane" so closely based on newspaper king William Randolph Hearst, their spittle was deemed identical. Certainly the score by cinema master Bernard Herrmann (1911-1975) caught the larger than life publisher, at once mesmerizing, grandiloquent, sophisticated, grand as a white-tie evening at the opera; his faults as magnificent as his carefully promoted merits... a commentator's dream come true... But then a seasoned commentator could take a grain of sand and using it as the seed draw forth the rich lands of Egypt and the Nile and their mighty and glorious caravans. That is what I learned to do day by day, word by word, article by article; eager to learn; eager to share. Scribbler, the early years. >From the eminence of breaking into print at the hoary age of five, it was all up, up, and away. A string of editorships in high school; the school's paper, literary magazine, and class book and... importantly... a weekly column. That column continued in college... and it continued after I graduated from graduate school. Life for me was an intricate game of dreaming up subjects of importance, researching and writing them, then sitting pretty "having written", as my mother said, the happiest state in the cosmos. When you add to this demanding agenda the fact that in those days I wrote a book a year (the text to be finished, significantly, by July 4, Independence Day), had a syndicated radio show, published the nation's largest card deck each quarter AND taught at a rotating roster of over 30 colleges, you may believe that life was hectic, needing efficiency, energy, precise timing, and the legerdemain that all true wizards possess, magic I had and to spare. 60, bone tired, art, and a man named Kosch. One more thing must be added to the agenda of "things that must be accomplished" and that was my burgeoning collection of European art and artifacts. This is important for several reasons, including fulfilling a lifelong ambition. As my collection grew (rather like how Hearst's grew, with exuberance, frenzy, and a wide net) it soon became obvious that I needed to remodel my home to accommodate my frequent acquisitions... and so began over 5 years of discomfort, dislocation, and disarray, which is to say the usual chaos, confusion and constant expense which are the true expertise of any remodeler and what may loosely be called his "craft". During this exhausting period I exhibited all the signs of a distressed individual enthralled by marauders, systematic fleecing being their goal and daily task, the host to be kept alive and trapped until the parasites have eaten everything. My blood sugar soared, my mood was as variable as New England's famously changeable weather, and when I had to move into a hotel for the last several weeks, I knew things had reached a nadir... Needless to say during this time of self-induced troubles, my writing suffered; there was much to write about but my habits were injured along with everything else. The man of words wondered whether the last one had been written. And then George Kosch entered the picture. George is a brilliant inventor of practical business and traffic generating software. He has a knack for knowing where the 'net is growing and therefore is able to invent the next sapient application... and the one after that; in short, he is just the fellow you want on your team if online profit is your goal, just as the third partner and co-founder of Worldprofit.com, Sandi Hunter, has demonstrated the patience of Job and the soothing touch of Mother Teresa in keeping customers worldwide happy and promptly served. One day George asked me if I would write a couple of articles for our promotions and blogs. My reply speaks volumes for my emotional state: no, I said. But George is a clever guy and he persevered... just write a couple, he said; you know you can knock them out fast. Here's where I shall be forever grateful to him... for he knew that I would only be truly happy marshaling words to influence people. Then he clinched the deal by saying I could write about anything... "Anything?" I asked with a whiff of suspicion. "Yes, anything," he responded... and the deal was struck which in time gave members of Worldprofit.com over 1000 articles on a huge number of subjects... 1000, I might say, and counting. In short, I was given at the precise moment I needed it, an entirely new career at once challenging, exciting, worthwhile and pace setting, inventive, developing new ways to use words and change history. Item: Ample space for developing a line of reason, nothing hurried, rushed or given the shortest of shrifts. As newspapers cut the amount of space dedicated to commentary, my articles, at least 1500 words, revived the personal essay so much a part of our glorious literature; supremely correct for the man who called himself The Master of the Lyric Words. Item: Worldprofit personnel, called Monitors, were taught to read the articles with meaning, eloquence, proper pacing and verve thereby reaching millions of people through Worldprofit's Live Business Center who heard therein the Master's masterful prose rendered by the most artful of instruments, the human voice. Item: A Writers Team was established, staffed by Monitors who assist me daily find critical facts and details; a team every writer that sees it envies. Item: Music was added to every article, thus enhancing the impact of each piece as well as its instructional value. Item: No punches were ever pulled. Where an article called for emotion, pain, even anguish and profound humanity, these were summoned and used. The goal at all times truth... the most difficult subject of all. Item: Images were added to every article, again adding a new dimension. Item: Flowers talked about their point of view; animals voiced their pleas for survival, as important to the planet as humans and given far less attention. All were real, not cartoons. Thus what they said was never sweet and superficial, but as vital and genuine as necessary to make their case as planetary co-voyagers, their sentiments as significant as ours. This, too, was new. As the articles began to appear, so did the warm response of readers worldwide, a response George Kosch monitored until he was ready to assist the process by inventing software that enables folks to create e-books in three minutes, video articles in less than a minute, and blog postings even faster. It was all Kosch, all Worldprofit.com, all good; all the content freely produced for and given to the members of our unique community. "The last of life for which the first was made." I am asked more often than most just when I shall retire. My answer comes from Edgar Allan Poe's raven, "Nevermore" and from the celebrated words above from Robert Browning, always quoted with reverence and affection by my mother. Under the circumstances to retire, having been handed just the task for which everything in my fruitful life has prepared me would be deeply remiss and completely irresponsible. Why unless held at gunpoint would one stop the benefits of a broad education at several of the world's most famous universities; worldwide travels; a practical affability that makes human contact easier and more productive; words without stint and proven ability to add more to the language... ...all this diminished upon traditional "retirement", cast aside, along with great gifts and tools to stay always and forever young in mind and out look, always grateful to learn, even more grateful to share with readers who have given the emoluments of interest, intelligent response, and praise sufficient and lavish. It is indeed all good, a garden worth tending for all the days of my life, for the benefit of all, whether they know it yet or not. Envoi. |
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